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May: Two Trees with Distinctive Foliage

Two trees which have unusual leaves and look good in spring are Ginkgo biloba or the Maidenhair Tree and Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’ or Golden Indian-Bean Tree.

Ginkgo biloba is a very unusual tree in several respects; it is usually classified in Gardening books as a conifer but is really in a separate and earlier division of the plant kingdom. The ginkgo is the only extant tree in this group and for many years was thought to be extinct, known only from fossil records. It was bought to the UK in the 1760s and one of the actual trees is still growing at Kew. However it is now a popular garden tree with distinct leaves fan shaped leaves which are an attractive pale yellowy green when young. Male trees also have catkins in the spring.

The Ginkgo is slow growing, eventually large deciduous tree growing up to around 70ft with a spread of up to 25ft. Conical when young, it later becomes a spreading tree. The fan shaped leaves have a lovely deep butter yellow colour in the autumn. It makes a lovely lawn specimen, preferring full sun.

There is a cultivar, more suitable for smaller gardens, G. biloba ‘Tremonia’ which is a male form and while still fairly tall is narrow so it takes up less garden space. It will reach around 20ft tall and 6ft across after 15 years. This form has particularly good autumn colour.

Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’ is a smaller tree at around 30ft by 30ft. The large leaves are a bronze-purple when very young, then a soft butter yellow in spring, finally maturing to a yellow-green in the summer. While this tree is not tender it is best grown in very warm sheltered spots, shaded from the mid-day sun, to protect its large ornamental leaves from cold winds. In late spring or early summer attractive bell-shaped white flowers appear and last for several weeks, followed in the autumn by attractive long seed pods.

If you are prepared to sacrifice the flowers and pods and want a small, back of border almost tropical looking plant then the Catalpa can be hard pruned every spring back to about 12-18”. It will then grow very fast up to around 10ft high and will have even larger leaves. Provided it is well fed you can do this for a number of years without ill effect – a fully hardy exotic for your border!

CAF