Harvest of Stink!

Well, not females of the human variety, necessarily, but I can assure you that the fruit of female(!) ginkgo trees sure does!

Last Fall, there was an odor stench that seemed to be dog poo permeating both our back and side yards. While Anne and I initially assumed that the smell stink was simply drifting from our neighbor's yard, we soon came to discover, however, the unfortunate source of the smell.

The previously vetted ginkgo tree (pictured above right)which borders ours neighbor's yard and is in the area under which we park our vehicles each day (below left) was "blooming" again!

I was particularly surprised to learn that that trees can come in “genders,” being either male or female. Our tree is of course of the smellier floral sex: a female.

We did not come to this conclusion by checking under its leaves. According to one website, “…female trees will bear yellowish plum-shaped fruit with a somewhat foul smelling meat (like rancid butter some say) whose outer skin is mildly toxic. Fallen fruits will usually burst open their fleshy coating, thus releasing the odor. In an outdoor setting, the smell is not too overpowering, but avoid planting near car ports or along roads as some people have reported paint damage from the fruits juices…”

Stupendous!

It does not surprise me is that the previous owners would plant such a noxious tree. When we first moved in, every room was a different shade of grey (including the exterior), and because they had been recreational bonsaists(?), there were shelves in the gardens cobbled together with cinder blocks and boards. And guess what... the ginkgo tree is a favorite of Bonsai enthusiasts, but they usually will know it as the Maidenhair Tree, as the small, bonsai trained leaves turn to a striking gold hue in the Fall.

Because Ginkgos will take about 20 years of growth before they start to reproduce, we can deduce that the tree has been here for almost two decades, and being the first time in our four years here that the fruits have appeared, we had not previously noticed the scent. Where we go from here is unclear, and while the fruit can be picked (while wearing latex gloves) and the nuts removed from the pungent smelling meat of the fruit, given the height of the tree, and my cowardice in the face of scaling it, this is unlikely.

At least we can take comfort in knowing that someones dog isn't pooping all over our yards... it's just nature and while we were somehow under the belief that these trees did not flower every year, here we are, a single year after the first recognition of the stinky fruit... with another harvest of stink.