Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) in Geelong. Photograph: National Trust

No, this isn’t a sarcastic, political post — it’s true. Here in Victoria (my state), we’re regularly asked to vote for a tree, as well as a bird and other things. 

The National Trust of Victoria began asking people to vote for a tree back in 2016, in an effort to to raise awareness about trees around Victoria and advocate for their protection by celebrating significant trees. It’s a nice idea, I think. Too many grand old trees get knocked down in the name of “progress” and this is one way of protecting them. You can see the list here.

To be eligible, the trees must be listed on the National Trust significant tree register, which it recognises up to 10,000 important trees in Victoria for their cultural, scientific, and historic value. Each year people nominate their favorite tree and a short list is drawn up. Then we’re asked to vote. It’s purely voluntary, and I think it’s also a bit of fun, scrolling through the list and deciding which tree to vote for.

Normally I’d vote for a native tree, but this year I’m going for this magnificent ginkgo tree. This particular tree was planted in the Geelong Botanic Gardens in 1859, and is more than 167 years old.  Another name for the ginkgo tree is the “maidenhair” tree, and that’s because the leaves look exactly like maidenhair ferns, only bigger, and in autumn they’re pure, brilliant gold.

Do you know the ginkgo tree? I first saw some many years in a beautiful old garden (The Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden) in the Dandenong Ranges, about an hour from Melbourne. 

Actually, it was a grove of ginkgoes planted around a small lake, and I was there in autumn and the leaves were gloriously golden. The fallen leaves were scattered on the little lake like floating golden coins. It was a breathtaking sight and I’ve never forgotten it. 

Autumn ginkgo trees at the Alfred Nicholas Gardens. (From Shutterstock)

The Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden is a beautiful garden to visit at any time of the year, but my favorite times are autumn and spring, when blossoms and flowers are everywhere.

Do you have a favorite tree? Or a favorite garden to visit?

We’re still in winter here in Melbourne, but in the last week my neighbor’s jasmine has begun to flower.

I love fragrant flowers and jasmine is one of my favorites, so I picked a few sprigs and popped them in a vase in my bedroom.

And every time I walk in, I can smell the jasmine and it always makes me smile, knowing sprintgime is coming.

I love the changing of the seasons. I’ve never wanted to live in the tropics, where they usually have only two seasons — wet and dry. I don’t care how gloomy and cold and wet it gets here in winter, I know it will eventually change.

And it is. The change has started.

Do you have a favorite sign of the changing seasons? What’s happening in your neck of the woods?

I love maidenhair ferns, but I’ve always had to buy them. I don’t have the patience (or the skills) to try to grow them from spores. I know it takes a lot of time and it’s still a bit hit-or-miss. But now I have several beautiful maidenhairs that just “growed”.

Truly they did. Each of them just appeared, first as several small flattish green blobs which I now know are called gametophytes. I had no idea what they were at the time, but they didn’t look dangerous so I ignored them.

Then a tiny delicate maidenhair frond unfurled, and then another. I was thrilled.

I now have three of these unexpected maidenhairs.

Each one grew in pots given over to some other plant. In fact twice I was propagating some other plant, but as soon as I realized there were maidenhairs growing in each pot, they took precedence. 

In the background of that photo, you can just see another small maidenhair fern growing in a pot with a pothos cutting I was propagating.

I wasn’t game to dig out the other plants or to try to transfer the maidenhairs to another pot, so I  just kept them well watered and watched their progress with delight. For one of the plants I was propagating (a peperomia), the soil was too moist, but I didn’t care when it died — I had other peperomia cuttings growing.

I also  found another maidenhair growing outside in a zygocactus plant (aka Christmas Cactus, only they don’t flower at Christmas here because in December it’s summer here.)

For most of the year it sits outside on the deck, where it gets rain and all kinds of weather but is still reasonably sheltered. And yesterday when I went out to check whether the flowers were opening I spotted the maidenhair. I only usually bring my zygoes in at flowering time, which is any day now, as you can see by the buds. I have a beautiful pink one that’s now inside, but without any unexpected ferns.

All I can think of is that I must have had a bigger maidenhair next to these pots and the spores dropped and eventually turned into ferns.

It certainly wasn’t anything clever I did. But I’m delighted.

I once had a big tree fern that also just “growed” outside my kitchen window in the old house. It grew and flourished for 20+ years and was over 6 feet tall when I sold that house. I would have brought it with me, but I was moving during Covid, and I couldn’t get anyone to help me move it. The people who bought the house —and bulldozed the rest of the garden — dug it up and put it in their own house, which I have mixed feelings about. I’m glad the tree fern survived, but hated that the rest of the garden was bulldozed to make way for lawn.

Ovens River.

Tree ferns are native to this part of Australia, the south-eastern part, which in its original state was covered in cool temperate rainforest. This is what that looks like — 2 photos: the first in a partially cleared area, the second is native bushland, with tall gum trees and tree ferns growing naturally.

Yalmy Forest by Peter Campbell

Do you like ferns? Do you grow any? Have you any plants that just “growed”?