What they don't tell you about this
tree is that it's secretly
magic. Honestly. It's a
normal tree most of the year, with pretty, if not odd, fanning
leaves. It's a
nuisance when it fruits, the fruits
stink and fall and get all
mushy all over the ground and then stink some more. But in the
fall, it's a
magic tree.
It's a late turner, really. One of the last trees to go, while the rest have shed their color and the ground is piled with dead dry brown leaves... then the ginkgo goes. The leaves quite suddenly turn bright golden yellow. Pure and bright yellow. And they start to fall, slowly. And they are heavy leaves, very heavy and beautiful. So they fall and stay there. They don't blow away and dance in the wind, there are no curled edges to pick wind up, and they're stiff and stony and they just STAY. You go and stand under one, and there's a golden canopy above you, and a lush dense golden carpet under your feet and for a moment you are trapped in magic.
If Lothlorien were real, it would be a forest of ginkos, spreading out from horizon to horizon, as far as you can see, a forest of ginko trees surrounding you in gold.