The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba, the maidenhair tree) is the closest thing to a living dinosaur you can plant. It is the sole survivor of an entire division of plants; fossils almost indistinguishable from today's tree are more than 200 million years old, and a handful of ginkgos survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima within two kilometres of ground zero and are still alive. It is also, conveniently, one of the toughest and most beautiful trees you can grow in a Canadian city.

There is exactly one decision that separates a lifelong favourite from an annual autumn headache: plant a male tree. Everything else about ginkgo is easy.

The One Rule: Plant a Male

Ginkgo is dioecious — individual trees are male or female. Female trees produce a plum-like seed whose fleshy outer coat, when it drops and rots on the ground each fall, smells intensely of rancid butter or vomit (the compound is butyric acid). One mature female can bury a sidewalk or driveway in slippery, foul-smelling fruit every October. It is the single reason ginkgo has a mixed reputation — and it is entirely avoidable.

The catch is that a seedling ginkgo cannot be reliably sexed until it first flowers, which can take 20 years or more. So an unlabelled seedling is a two-decade gamble. The fix is simple and is what every city forestry department does: buy a grafted, named male cultivar — a clone of a known male tree. The cultivar name on the label is your guarantee of a fruit-free tree.

Best Male Ginkgo Cultivars for Canada

Every cultivar below is male (so fruit-free) and has a good record in Zone 4. Choose by the shape and size you need.

How Hardy Is Ginkgo in Canada?

Ginkgo is solidly hardy to Zone 4, and established trees in sheltered urban sites succeed in Zone 3b. It is a common, trouble-free street tree in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London and Montreal, and it grows in the warmer Prairie cities — Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg — where a sheltered spot and good establishment watering carry it through. Its legendary toughness is not a myth: ginkgo shrugs off air pollution, road salt, compacted soil, summer heat and drought, and it has essentially no serious pests or diseases in North America. The realistic limits are the coldest Zone 2–3a areas of the Prairies and the North, and drying winter wind on young, unestablished trees.

Siting, Planting & Winter Care

• Sun & soil: full sun and almost any well-drained soil — ginkgo tolerates a wider range of urban conditions than nearly any other tree. It does not need rich ground.
• Give it room: a full-size cultivar becomes a 15–25 m tree. Site it accordingly and away from overhead wires; use 'Princeton Sentry' or a dwarf where space is tight.
• Establishment: water deeply and regularly for the first 2–3 seasons. Once established it is highly drought-tolerant.
• Winter, Zone 3–4: mulch the root zone and shelter young trees from drying west and north winter wind for the first few winters. Established ginkgos need no protection.
• Pruning: minimal — ginkgo has a naturally good form. Remove any competing leaders on young trees in late winter; otherwise leave it alone.

Where to Buy a Male Ginkgo in Canada

Look for a grafted, cultivar-named male tree at a specialist tree nursery, a strong independent garden centre, or a Canadian mail-order tree grower — and check that the label carries a name like 'Autumn Gold' or 'Princeton Sentry', which is your guarantee the tree is male. Skip unlabelled "ginkgo" seedlings unless you actively want to gamble on the sex and wait two decades to learn the answer. Because ginkgo starts slowly, buy the largest healthy tree your budget allows, and plant in spring so it has a full growing season to settle in before winter.

Frequently Asked Questions