Ginkgo biloba ‘Princeton Sentry’ – Princeton Sentry Ginkgo

Botanical Name: Ginkgo biloba ‘Princeton Sentry’

Alternate Name: Princeton Sentry Maidenhair

The Princeton Sentry Ginkgo is a slow-growing, deciduous tree with a dense, columnar to conical crown. The ginkgo’s signature fan-shaped leaves emerge an attractive, medium green in spring and are transformed to a stunning golden yellow display in fall. This autumn color can be particularly dramatic if a line of these trees are planted, or if individual trees are mixed in with maples with various fall colors.

Princeton Sentry Ginkgo is a male cultivar, which is fruitless. Female cultivars tend to be undesirable, as they drop sour-smelling fruit that cause a mess.

‘Princeton Sentry’ has a strong central leader and a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. This tree has a medium-textured leaf that can be contrasted with finer textured conifers or other coarser textured, broadleaf trees for an interesting garden design. Ginkgos do not have any noticeable pest or disease issues, and their strong growing form resists storm damage.

Ginkgo trees are known as living fossils. They are some of the oldest living tree species, first growing on the earth 200 million years ago. Ginkgo trees are extremely resilient. They will grow in very harsh urban environments such as compacted soils, sites susceptible to drought, and in cities amongst pollution. Ginkgo biloba trees are tough, and approximately 170 of them, known as Hiroshima Peace Trees, survived Hiroshima’s atomic bombing in 1945. These trees have been found to live over 1,000 years.