243-year-old Ginkgo in Croatia a finalist for European Tree of the Year title

Ginkgo in Croatia (Photo credit: Davor Kirin/JU-Priroda-BBŽ)

5 February 2020 – The oldest Ginkgo biloba tree in Croatia is one of the finalists for the 2020 European Tree of the Year title.

Sixteen trees from all over Europe have been selected as this year’s finalists for the title, including Croatia’s ‘in love Ginkgo’.

The Ginkgo tree is located in the eastern Croatian town of Daruvar, in front of the Caste of Count Janković and is the oldest and largest of its kind in Croatia and one of the oldest in Europe. It was planted over 240 years ago. 

In front of the south entrance to the castle, there are two specimens of Ginkgo biloba trees, a male and a female, originally from China. They are located inside the castle’s park, which grew simultaneously with the making of the castle and it was completed in 1780. It is the oldest tree species on Earth, which has existed for over 200 million years.

The male specimen, with the volume of its trunk over seven meters, locals call Adam, and it is protected as a horticultural monument as an individual tree. Ginkgo biloba trees can grow up to 30 meters in height and 9 meters in width. Unlike the male specimen, the female specimen of the Ginkgo tree, which the locals call Eva, is tall and slim. Ginkgo biloba is a dioecious plant, it blooms from April until May and its seed are mature from October until November. The tree has been protected since 1967.

(Photo credit: Davor Kirin/JU-Priroda-BBŽ)

The European Tree of the Year is an annual contest held to find the most ‘loveable tree’ in Europe with the most interesting story and is held by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA), an organisation supported by the European Commission.

Public voting opened on 1 February and will take place until 29 February 2020 with the results announced at the award ceremony in Brussels on the 17th of March, where the winners will be awarded.

You can place your vote here.