July 3, 2011

Bloomberg's Million Trees campaign included 200 ginkgos that bear fruit that stinks like vomit.

The NY Post reports:
"They are only supposed to put in the male tree -- it doesn't produce the berries -- but they've been putting in females, which is driving everybody nuts."
ADDED: There are reports that a male ginkgo can turn female... or something:
I read an article that a Virginia study showed that male Ginkgos can morph into females. That is completely false. What happens is the grafted clone dies on the seeding rootstock and the rootstock sends up a shoot. If the tree farm is not carefully watching this, then nobody knows the "certified male" is no longer alive and they are selling plain ol’ Ginkgo. It happens a lot!

38 comments:

Meade said...

"Males" are sometimes females.

Fen said...

And Greenies are NIMBYS.

Carbon footprints are for the "little people"

Carol_Herman said...

I think this is hysterical.

Even better, since nothing gets put in ... without having meetings. And, Powerpoint displays ... How, exactly did we come to the "stink berries?"

How many people were involved in the meetings?

And, whose sense of humor prevailed under the radar?

When this sorts out, will it be that at the bottom, where people earning minimum wage ... were supposed to know the difference between male and female trees?

Could this happen in the private sector?

Bob said...

They're lovely trees, though. There's a huge one at Colonial Williamsburg, and in fall foliage it's striking.

Lucius said...

Trees that smell like vomit?

I love the smell of technocracy in the morning-- don't you?

Fen said...

"And there's some kind of acid in it that takes the paint off of cars," he said.


LOL!

Anonymous said...

Gingko's can be sprayed in the spring to prevent the fruiting. DC has a program: http://www.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/About+DDOT/News+Room/Public+Notices/Ginkgo+Spraying+Begins+on+April+25

edutcher said...

Taken with the Greenwich Village article, the trees are a perfect metaphor for Bloomie's New York.

Lucius Septimius said...

There are parts of NYC that already smell like vomit, so I doubt anyone will notice.

Shouting Thomas said...

Yes, ginkos do stink to high heaven!

When I lived in Ft. Greene Park in Brooklyn, I have a beautiful floor through apartment on the top of an old brownstone.

We'd open up the bay window in the front and the back and we wouldn't even need air conditioning in the summer.

At certain times however, the ginkos would really work up a sweat and we'd have to close the windows lest we vomit.

Anonymous said...

After all the fuss From environmentalists over humans introducing non native plant species into the local ecology, why were these trees selected?

stevenj said...

Maybe these New Yorkers would be more happy with a plastic tree. Get over it, wusses.

If the fruit is stinking up the neighborhood, get out a hose and wash it away.

Big Mike said...

I agree with Sandy. Why on earth would you deliberately introduce a million non-native trees into the environment? A handful of non-native species in a well-tended garden, yes. A million trees haphazardly scattered across a large city?

If a tree grows in Brooklyn, does it have to have poisonous fruits and stink like vomit and strip paint from cars?

Maybe Trooper can enlighten us.

paminwi said...

stevenj: NY already has fake tress in some parks - ever seen the stainless steel trees in Madison Square Park? They don't smell!

http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/art/roxy-paine-three-sculptures

Matt Sablan said...

Ginkgo trees are like raptors!

I'm Full of Soup said...

Come on you people, don't believe this story, the Mayor Knows Best.

ricpic said...

Another gift from the six figured patricians who do public service. The problem with living in Rome is that it takes Rome so long to fall.

HT said...

Living in DC, ginko wimps abound. In the great SE, we had a ginko in our yard. And yes, it bears fruit and it smells, but they are awesome trees, fabulous for climbing, and you can learn to cook that fruit if you are so inclined. There's this horrible initiative going on in DC whereby residents can petition to have the trees cut down. We've lost a ton of knowledge when it comes to trees and horticulture. It's sad. Everyone's distracted now with their gadgets and wants instant everything, comfort, what have you. Ginkos are absolutely gorgeous trees. But given our resistance to appreciation and patience and learning, it's not a good idea to provoke the superficial with ginko trees. No matter how awesome they are. They are trees for grownups, apparently.

lonetown said...

Some plants do go hermaphroditic, e.g. hemp. Its not that unusual.

MadisonMan said...

We have a gingko coming up -- from seed, a volunteer -- in our back yard garden, and I'm not cutting it down. I might have to move it though, it's kinda close to the neighbor's garage.

Bloomberg's city includes 100s of thousands of people who smell worse than vomit and on one is trying to get rid of them.

YoungHegelian said...

DC is full of ginkos. Strangely enough, my wife can't smell their odor, while I can smell one a block away.

The modern Ginko is the last survivor of its genus. Ginkos have been around a long time, all the way back to the Permian. They're much older as a genus than the deciduous hardwoods around them.

Carol_Herman said...

It's going to become a tourist attraction!

Sort'a like what you do with lemons. You can't have too many if you're gonna sell lemonade.

Does anything embarrass Bloomberg?

New York City's had such a lousy run of mayors. You'd have thought, though, it could never get worse than Dinkens.

Kelly from Georgia said...

"Bloomberg's city includes 100s of thousands of people who smell worse than vomit and on one is trying to get rid of them."

Thanks Madison Man. That made me lol.


Kelly

Gahrie said...

The perfect illustration of the nanny state.

Fred4Pres said...

New York does stink like vomit at times.

Have you ever been to the St. Patrick's Day Parade?

Jose_K said...

And there's some kind of acid in it that takes the paint off of cars," he said
The same is true for birds excrement and most fruits

Meade said...

With silent stomata. "Give me your seedlings, your whips,

Your two hundred ginkgos yearning to respire free,

The wretched refuse that is thier stinking fruit.

Send these, the hated, paint-peeling, nuts-driving to me,

I lift my Felcos beside their cambium layer.

Fred4Pres said...

Ginkos make Redwoods seems like youngsters.

I like a tree that stinks, it shows a general "fuck you" attitude that is refreshing in a plant (yeah I know I am antromorphizing), but I would prefer not to have one near my house.

Fred4Pres said...

Ginko fruit only stinks if it is left to rot.

Bob_R said...

We had a female ginko on the farm when I was growing up. Must have been 40-50'. Absolutely beautiful tree. Worth the stink.

Fred4Pres said...

We need to send those girl ginkos to India ASAP!

Fred4Pres said...

Bloomberg's policies often stink far worse than any ginko.

MayBee said...

The fruit stinks if it is left to rot or if it is crushed (by people walking on it). But the ginko nut is actually very tasty when roasted.

Why plant a fruit tree and leave the fruit to rot on the ground? Get a city worker to gather the nuts, or allow one of the localvore restaurant owners to harvest them.

CatherineM said...

I think they smell more like ejaculate, but perhaps that's just me.

Mad Man, yeah, the whole west side of midtown stinks of pee (human and doggy). Don't you think he could have picked a tree that actually smelled nice?

And he's never here! Stay in Bermuda Bloomie.

Unknown said...

"City Parks Department officials have defended the practice, saying ginkgos resist diseases and pests and provide more oxygen than most other varieties" The bureaucrats are never wrong, are they?

Our burb planted trees in the center divider and in the parkway in front of stores. Very ornamental and cute! Five years later, they were giants, and roots were destroying the median, the curbs and the asphalt. The merchants had to go en masse to the city to demand they be removed. The city denying all the way that they goofed and wasted the money.

Kensington said...

Manhattan in Summer always smells vaguely of sweet vomit.

Oh, how I miss it.

Andrea said...

I've never smelled the gingkos that grow around here, but maybe it's because they're overpowered by the smell of boxwood -- that would be that popular bush that people plant to make hedges. It smells like a well-used cat litter box.

Also there are a lot of organic farms around here, if you know what I mean. And that's not all: skunks are ubiquitous. There's nothing like sitting by your open window, enjoying the cool night breeze, and then suddenly a skunk walks by in the yard below. Gingkos have a lot of competition when it comes to the "things that stink" area in Virginia.

Wince said...

Ginkgo?

Maybe that explains why Larry King smells like vomit?