🍂✨ When I look at the Ginkgo in its autumn colors, I see a story that reaches back much further than most other plants. Ginkgo biloba is a living fossil, a tree that has endured across millions of years. Yet it is more than a species frozen in time—its subtle adaptations to new environmental conditions remind me that even the oldest lineages of life can transform without losing their origins.

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The Ginkgo’s autumnal shedding of leaves is a beautiful example. A tree that sheds its leaves is constantly in dialogue with its surroundings, pausing and conserving energy for the year ahead. Its leaf, delicate and fan-shaped, becomes a bridge between ancient evolution and present-day adaptation. In letting go of each leaf as the season shifts, it seems as if the Ginkgo has long understood that real strength lies in release.

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This thought brings me to a deep connection with the Ginkgo: its adaptability and survival are not mere relics. They are a testament to balancing past and present, to the art of adapting to conditions while remaining true to one’s core. The Ginkgo shows that evolution doesn’t necessarily mean losing our roots but rather creatively engaging with what was, and what could be.

🌳🍂👣💭 As I contemplate this tree, I feel a reflection of myself in a world that demands constant change. Just as the Ginkgo has learned to thrive across climates and seasons, I too stand within a field of ancient influences and modern forces. The tree reminds me that my own self, with all its primal and contemporary elements, has a place here—one that allows not only survival but the possibility of flourishing.

The Ginkgo biloba has long been revered as a source of strength and life-prolonging properties. For centuries, the Chinese and Japanese have revered the Ginkgo as sacred because of its vitality and promise of miracles, and asked for their wishes from it.

The Ginkgo is a living fossil, as it has barely changed visibly over many millions of years. It is the only living representative of the Ginkgo genus, which has been documented by fossils for 290 million years. Until a few million years ago, Ginkgo trees were still widespread worldwide, until at some point its natural distribution area was restricted to parts of East Asia.

For centuries it was considered extinct in the wild, but some natural occurrences of this tree species, which can live for over a thousand years, have been discovered again. It is used worldwide as an ornamental plant, but has therefore hardly spread in the wild.

It is exceptionally well protected against diseases and insects. Bacteria and fungi avoid the acidic leaves and bark. They are poisonous to insects. Traditionally, Ginkgo leaves are used as bookmarks to protect books from insect infestation.

Someone who also valued the ginkgo leaf was Frankfurt-born Johann von Goethe, who even dedicated a poem to it. He saw the special leaf growth as a symbol of deep connection. Over time, the leaf splits but always remains connected.

It is a very special plant with a strong symbolic and spiritual meaning that truly does justice to its nature.