Transformation of the Ginkgo Tree!

Posted on November 8, 2023 by

35 Comments

Yesterday I took a walk in the rain on the Cedar River Trail to see one of my favorite trees in glory – the Ginkgo Biloba.

It wasn’t hard to spot – it lit up the rainy path like a burst of sunshine!

And to think it was mostly green less than 2 weeks ago.

According to Wikipedia: “It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoc approximately 170 million years ago.”

Which reminds me of Ginkgo Petrified Forest near the Columbia River, where over 50 species of petrified wood including Ginkgo, were discovered in the 1930’s. We stopped by for a look a few years ago and saw beautiful specimens of petrified wood and Indian petroglyphs.

According to the signboard,

“Once living trees are converted into ‘trees of stone’ during a long slow petrification process. It began roughly 12 to 17 million years ago when lava poured out of cracks in the earth. The silica enriched lava flows covered 63,000 square miles burying the area where you stand today. One of these flows spilled into an ancient lake that once existed here. As the lava cooled around water soaked logs, the silica from the lava slowly replaced organic cells in the trees. over time these fallen trees were transformed into the petrified forest of Ginkgo State Park.”

Now that’s a transformation!

~ Susanne

Category: Nature, TravelTags: , , , , , , , , ,

35 Comments on “Transformation of the Ginkgo Tree!”

  2. Your photos are inspiring me to finally get to planting a gingko tree and some other fall leaf and berry color trees. So far just on a long and growing list of want-these. But here there was something new. this year. My century old apple tree (indeterminate variety) has never had autumn color until this year. Formerly leaves browned first rainfall, shed all with first windstorm. This year (maybe climate change influence?) there are leaves of gingko-level pure gold and continue to cling on despite several enthusiastic wind/rain storms. Makes me wish I was as excellent a photographer as you are!

    • Thanks for your comment. Just pull out your phone and start snapping some photos. It’s quite easy when you can take as many as you like. 🙂 I don’t have a ginkgo tree in my own yard but love visiting this one! How nice that your apple tree is providing color for you.

      • Nope. Not the phone. Sorry. Had to be on my employer-issued smart phone on call 24/7. NEVER going back to that. Ever! My flip phone needs bluetooth (for bluetooth I am indeed technodystopian) to retrieve the poor quality photos the flip takes. Real camera for me. I’m trying but not very hard! Much easier to just enjoy your photos!

  3. Beautiful autumn foliage! Wow, I love the bright yellow and red leaves next to each other. 🌺

  4. Okay, you go on a walk and enrich us all with your photos, I go on a walk and scare the hell out of my family with my photos. These are lovely Susanne. Hugs, C

  5. How cool you have ginkgoes nearby, Susanne! Stunning shots! I may have already told you that the Sacramento University campus where I taught had a huge ginkgo grove. This was the time of year the trees would turn into their full glory. The groundskeepers would mow patterns into the golden ginkgo carpet. Oh, how I miss seeing that every year–thanks for sharing these today!

    • Thanks, Terri! This was the first one I ever remember seeing and I fell in love with it! Now I see them here and there, but I imagine an entire grove would be magnificent!

  6. Beautiful fall colors1. I will be sharing my look at the changing colors of Central Park next week and will link to your story! Fall continues to show off!

  9. That yellow against the other red leaves is beautiful. I like the Ginkgo Petrified Forest too. Never heard of that before.

    • Thanks, Graham. The Gingko is marvelous next to its neighbors. And I’d seen the signs for the Petrified Forest everytime we went east on I90 across the Columbia, and finally stopped. It was pretty cool. I need to go back again and spend more time as we didn’t see everything.

  10. Wow, that’s just glorious! No wonder you wanted to take a walk specifically to see it 😀 And the petrified ones are fascinating.

    • Yes, it’s beautiful today and fascinating that it’s one of the ancient trees still existing! With proof in the petrified forest.

  15. Great photos as usual! My little ginkgo tree is yellow now, and it’s growing pretty well. It was planted in 2010 when the City of Fresno had to take out a diseased Fresno Ash tree in the city strip in front of our house. They gave us a list of trees to chose from and they planted it for us. 👍🏻

    • How wonderful! I noticed a couple new ginkgo trees were planted in our neighborhood in front of the elementary school. Still small but pretty yellow, too.

  16. Oh, this wonderful old Gino I have one, but it’s still so young doesn’t have very many leaves quite yet and the trees take so long to grow but I love them.

  17. Pingback: Central Park’s Spectacular Fall Foliage! Nature Shows Off In New York City! – johnrieber

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