The ginkgo biloba, the tree of forty crowns

The ginkgo biloba: a model of choice for photographers

The Perrine garden in Laval has a great diversity of tree species, but among them, a remarkable tree attracts all the eyes during one week, in autumn: the ginkgo biloba, whose foliage initially green becomes gold color.

During this period, many amateur photographers from the region come to take pictures of this magnificent specimen. A few years ago, the gardeners had blown the fallen leaves to the ground, to the great dismay of the photographers; because, in addition to the splendor of the tree covered with gold, the carpet which forms, then, on the ground is also of a great beauty.

The ginkgo biloba: the star of the Perrine garden

The ginkgo biloba is not a rare tree, but the one in the Perrine garden is a very beautiful specimen of great size, 25 meters high (there are few ginkgo biloba of this dimension there), and its isolated position in the middle of the lawn puts it particularly in value.

Considering the position of the ginkgo biloba in relation to the layout of the Perrine garden, we can seriously suppose that it was installed there at the time of its creation, which allows us to give it an age of about 100 years.

A week's show in autumn

In the ginkgo biloba, the coloring of the green leaves in yellow starts on the edge of the leaves and ends in the heart. The foliage, on the tree, is then completely yellow during 2 or 3 days (the good moment to take the photos), then in one or two days, all the leaves fall on the ground. The show lasts, in total, about a week.

What maintenance is necessary for this ginkgo biloba?

There is little pruning to do. One cuts essentially the dead wood, as well as the low branches which fall down and which tend to prevent the light from reaching the bed of perennial plants installed at the foot of the tree. This will be the only maintenance performed.

Ginkgo biloba: the indestructible tree

Not only does the ginkgo biloba not fear diseases and pests, but it also knows how to resist man: it is the only tree to have survived the atomic bomb.

Potting the Japanese maple

The rather slow growth of the Japanese maple allows it to be grown in pots without any problem. However, after a few years, it will need to be repotted in good conditions to continue to give its best.

When to repot the Japanese maple?

The best time to repot the Japanese maple is in early spring before budburst, or in the fall after leaf fall.

There are many varieties of Japanese maple, some of which are better suited to pot cultivation than others because they keep a compact habit. This is the case of Acer palmatum 'Corallinum' which has bright pink leaves in spring, turning pale green and then wine red in autumn, of 'Dissectum' and its numerous cultivars which rarely exceed 2 meters in height but have flamboyant foliage, and of 'Ukigumo' marbled with white and pink. These varieties grow slowly and are well suited to pot culture. They can be repotted only every 4 years. The other years a surfacing in spring will be enough, if the pot is big enough.

How to repot the Japanese maple?

Gently remove the root ball from the pot by pulling on the trunk. If the plant does not come out the first time, tap the sides of the pot. If it is made of plastic, do not hesitate to sacrifice the container by cutting it with a cutter if necessary.

If your tree is installed in a beautiful ceramic pot and is difficult to remove, slide the blade of a knife between the root ball and the wall to loosen the roots. Proceed with care.

Once the root ball is out, tap it to remove as much soil as possible.

Immerse the root ball of the maple tree in non-limestone water at room temperature for at least ¼ hour. The tree will hydrate.

Then check the health of the roots and prune those that are dead or damaged with disinfected secateurs.

Choose a larger pot than the previous one, with a hole in the bottom, because this tree does not tolerate stagnant humidity at the roots. For the same reason, leave a layer of clay balls at the bottom of the pot equivalent to 20% of its volume.

Prepare a mixture composed of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 small pine bark and 1/3 very good potting soil or better still homemade oak leaf compost. The mixture should have an acidic pH. Add a handful of ground horn and dried blood to make it richer.

Plant your tree upright in the pot containing this substrate. The neck of the tree will be located 2 to 3 cm below the top of the pot.

Pack and water thoroughly.

Add more mixture if necessary and mulch with pine needles or bark. This mulching will maintain a good humidity to the substrate while slightly acidifying it.

After repotting the Japanese maple

Place your tree in a location sheltered from strong winds and full sun.

It will do well in semi-shade in a courtyard, a patio or on a terrace sheltered by large walls. In the garden, reserve a place protected by other trees or hedges to protect it from the wind.

Water often, especially in summer. The mixture should never dry out completely between two waterings. Do not let water stand in the saucer.

Scratch a mixture of compost and shredded horn each spring at the base of the tree, then replace the mulch.

The willow, the tree that soothes the fevers of men

Tree of the marshes, of the rivers, the Willow soothes the fevers of the men, provides a soft wood, the invaluable osiers of the basket makers. Its vitality, its short life span, a man's life, its power of multiplication, surround it with legends often forgotten.

The tree of diversity

More than thirty species of willow live in France, the number of their hybrids is... incalculable. They live side by side, interbreed, their characteristics are mixed in an abundant diversity, a real headache for botanists. Some of them draw our attention more than others, for their size, their regular presence, their usefulness, the elegance of their silhouette. The White Willow, Salix alba, the Fragile Willow, Salix fragilis and their hybrid Salix x rubens, mark the banks of rivers, ponds, marshes, with their tall silhouettes. The Marchault Willow, Salix caprea, less greedy for water, can be found in forests, and in parks the Weeping Willow and its hybrids will be of the most beautiful effect.

Medicinal properties

Willows in their great diversity show common medicinal properties, known and used by men for thousands of years. As swamp trees, they were used to treat fevers, thanks to their febrifuge character. The presence of salicylic acid in their bark made them compared to cinchona. Bark also astringent, tonic, antirheumatic, febrifuge, antiseptic, vulnary... The flowers, male and female catkins, each installed on its own tree, are antispasmodic and sedative, as are the leaves, although they are less effective. How not to mention also its tonic effects of the digestive system, anti-diarrhea. The white willow was certainly the most used of all the willows in our regions.

Uses of willows

Leaves, bark, flowers, wood, everything in the Willow is used. Its early catkins offer bees a welcome source of food at the end of winter. The same catkins are so decorative that they are used in the composition of seasonal bouquets. The mature seeds, soft and silky, could be used as cotton when it was missing. The leaves and small branches are used as fodder for horses, goats and sheep.... The bark, known for tanning, will provide the gardener with willow water, cut into pieces, soaked, it will produce a natural cutting hormone. A dyeing tree, the Willow, depending on the recipe, will express itself in red, brown, black. Its wood shows a great diversity of uses.

A soft wood

Not very famous as a fuel, the Willow is nevertheless appreciated by bakers, for its bright flame, at high temperatures. Its charcoal was used to make gunpowder. Its homogeneous, light, soft wood is light, yellowish, sometimes turning pinkish. Although it does not last, it works well and is used in many fields.

Rafters, rods, poles, stakes, packaging, sieves, light clogs, toys, barrel hoops... And even cricket bats made with white willow, so famous that it is called "cricket willow". Its properties also see it used for the manufacture of prostheses.

Wicker

Basketry is supplied by willows, for their long, straight and solid branches. Ties for the garden, for trellising vines, baskets, fish traps, cages... Everything can be made of wicker. Among the most used, we find the white willow or white wicker, cultivated in pollard, whose form 'Vitellina' is appreciated for its yellow, orange branches. The fragile willow, Salix fragilis, which only breaks at the joints, is part of the list, without dethroning the basket maker's willow, Salix viminalis. Don't forget the purple willow, Salix purpurea, or the three-stamens willow, Salix triandra. The braided strips often came from the Marsault Willow.

Some stories

In many countries, the Willow is a symbol of immortality, vitality and protection. Its branches are said to repel unwanted spirits. But it can also represent death, evil powers with witches populating its foliage...

Female deities would inhabit the willows, bringing fertility and abundant harvests to collect in its braided branches.

The melancholic would appreciate its shade.

The tomb of Napoleon I is always represented with a Weeping Willow.

Familiar with parks for its elegance, the Willow deserves to be rediscovered and to find a place at the edge of ponds, in hedges, at the edge of gardens.

The lime tree, a medicinal and useful tree

Men and trees have been telling stories since prehistoric times. The linden tree and its perfumed flowers, its bark for ropes, its wood for infusion, brings some nice pages to it. Medicinal, utilitarian, it was once linked to the protective forces of nature.

A familiar tree

Lime trees are part of our daily lives. Village squares, schoolyards, parks, lines of trees, we come across them everywhere. European species, the large-leaf lime tree, Tilia platyphyllos, and the small-leaf lime tree, Tilia cordata, have hybridized and the intermediate lime tree, Tilia vulgaris or intermedia, is found alongside its cousins. Trees of the revolution, they were planted in village squares in 1792, but already in the 16th century Sully recommended their use. Thus, many lime trees exceed four centuries. It is estimated that the oldest ones are around 1000 years old...

Close to human settlements, ruins too, a lime tree in the forest often announces an old farm, a lost hamlet, this tree has brought a lot to man, by its medicinal properties, its soft wood, its strong links.

Lime tree recipes

At the end of spring, for St. John's Day, the inflorescences of lime bloom. Then begins the harvest of the flowers, if possible without the bracts, for infusions with the sweetest possible scent. The linden tea has a solid reputation, established by its digestive and soothing virtues. Dried in a ventilated place, avoiding direct sunlight, the flowers can be kept in bags and can occasionally be used to flavour a salad. Fresh, put to macerate in the sun in water with sugar, lemon, vinegar, they will compose a pleasant sparkling drink, resembling the elderberry lemonade. In mid-summer, the unharvested flowers will give fruits with edible seeds. Roasted, they could be used as a coffee substitute.

The lime leaves were used during the last world war, dried and crushed they supplemented the flours coming to miss, with a contribution in proteins not negligible. Currently, young leaves are harvested to mix them with mixed salads, their acidic taste being more or less appreciated.

Medicinal properties

Used in tea at the end of meals for its digestive properties, for cases of influenza, the linden shows antispamodic, antisclerotic, diuretic and sudorific properties. It would also play a role in the fluidification of blood, in the light nervous disorders. The variability of the active substances would be notable according to the lime trees and their places of culture.

Any use of medicinal plants requires prudence, it is advisable for the lime tree, as for any other plant, to find some wise advice for any medicinal cure. Less known, the sapwood, peripheral wood under the bark, sees its use in progression. Good diuretic, it is a hepato-biliary and urinary drainer, used among others in arthritis, migraine states... The herbalists propose it in the form of chips to be used in decoction.

Uses of lime

The smell of the linden flower attracted perfumers very early on. They extracted farnesol from it, which is also present in orange and acacia essential oils. It allows to underline the odors of floral perfumes.

As for wood, lime is rather soft and light, it is not resistant to bad weather. Its main qualities, homogeneity, stability after drying, make it a wood appreciated by turners and sculptors. Clogs, shoe heels, pencils, piano keys, kitchen utensils, toys, boxes... The range of interior uses is wide.

The bark of lime, called lime, brings unexpected qualities, fibrous and resistant it was used for a long time in the manufacture of links and ropes known for their solidity. Russia and Scandinavia also used it for basketry, mats, fishing nets and sandals. These practices, now forgotten, are remembered when we find dead lime trees with decaying wood but with bark that has disintegrated into fibers that are still tenacious and resistant.

For the artist writer, designer, the lime charcoal will offer an unequalled fineness, also used for the powder, and therapeutic use.

Some stories...

Heart-shaped leaves, sweet smell, soothing virtues, soft shadow, reassuring presence... The lime tree evokes love, fidelity, benevolent welcome, but also dance and joy.

Spirits and sorcerers inhabit this beneficial tree with multiple properties, it is advisable to treat them with respect to work its wood or its bark.

The shade of the lime tree is a beautiful shade to install a bench, to taste an herbal tea, and to tell stories about plants, where ancient and contemporary ethnobotany meet.

The oaks with small development

There are 600 varieties of oaks in the world (130 are cultivated in the nursery).

The originality of this genus is its diversity: there are oaks with willow leaves, oaks with chestnut leaves, ... Some of them have a large development; they will live 500 years, 1000 years and can reach 40 meters high. Others are of small development. With a long life expectancy of 300 to 400 years, the smallest of these oaks will reach 2.50 m and the largest 5-6 m; they are ideal for small gardens.

The Quercus bivoniana, the olive leaf oak. It can reach 8 to 12 meters depending on the soil and climate. It is a very useful oak to make a visual screen (hedge) in case of opposite because, on the one hand, it has an evergreen foliage (its thinness gives it an air of olive leaf) and, on the other hand, it can be led in vines (not only in high-stem), by keeping the branches at the base of the trunk. In this configuration, the plantation is made every 2,50 m between feet, and a pruning is made every year so that the trees are very well furnished.

It is possible to choose its rootstock according to the soil that will receive it: calcareous, wet or dry.

Its acorn is very decorative: larger than that of the common oak, its cup looks like a flower with many petals.

Quercus alba 'Longigemma', an American white oak. It is an oak that can reach a height of 15 to 20 m. In spring its young shoots are reddish pink, and turn green during the summer. In the fall, the foliage takes on beautiful autumn colors, wine lees. The leaves dry but remain in the tree (marcescent tree). It is also a grafted tree that can adapt to many types of land.

Note: not all oaks produce acorns, so grafting is used as a method of reproduction.

Ornamental bark dogwoods

They brighten up the winter with their bright or flamboyant stems. The dogwoods with remarkable bark are very graphic subjects, especially on a white snowy coat.

Very easy to grow and hardy, they will be your charming asset in the garden during the bad season.

Decorative bark dogwoods

Decorative bark dogwoods are very valuable in the garden in winter because they unfurl their red or orange stems throughout the bad season, brightening up the decor and contrasting with the surrounding greyness. They can be used as decorative hedges, borders, beds, or even as an isolated subject.

The white dogwood (Cornus alba) is a shrub native to Siberia, China and Korea that can reach up to 3 m in height and spread. Its upright habit is very graphic especially when the young shoots without leaves turn red/orange in winter. The variety 'Sibirica' is particularly interesting for its foliage that turns purple in autumn and for its bright red stems.

Kesselringii' has almost black, slightly purple shoots.

Those who like variegated foliage will be interested in the varieties 'Elegantissima' with grey/green leaves edged with white or 'Gouchaultii' with leaves edged with yellow and shaded with pink. On these cultivars, the bark remains very ornamental with a beautiful red color.

The female dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is a shrub native to Europe with an upright and bushy habit.  It does not exceed 3m in height for 2,5m of spread. The typical species has green stems turning red in autumn if the plant is exposed to the sun, otherwise the stems remain green. The variety 'Winter Flame' is very ornamental with its orange-yellow stems, very bright in the garden in winter. This deciduous shrub is particularly beautiful in autumn when its leaves turn a blazing red.

The dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) is a shrub with a wide spread (4m) thanks to its suckering runners. Its dark red shoots are sumptuous in winter. The variety 'Flaviramea' offers the spectacle of its bright green to yellowish stems for a very bright effect in the garden.

Maintenance of decorative bark dogwoods

Decorative bark dogwoods become much brighter in full sun. Always plant them with good exposure. Not very difficult, these dogwoods accept most soils.

The young shoots being much more colorful than the old ones, the species cultivated for the color of their bark should be pruned each year in spring just before bud break. With sharp pruning shears, cut each stem flush with the ground above the second bud from the base. This will ensure that the young shoots are brightly colored in winter.