We are happy to announce a new partnership with the University of Connecticut (UConn). Sean Vasington and Matthew Opel (pictured left) have received the ginkgo seeds.

A ginkgo, nurtured from seed to sapling for seven years, was planted on World Peace Day in Dunedin. Thank you to all of those in New Zealand who have made this planting a reality.

Thanks to Mihoko Kumamoto who guided Nikhil Seth, Alex Mejia and Chisa Mikami of UNITAR, for a special visit to our little Camellia, planted on the grounds of Sophia University in Tokyo.

Dr. Gerdhard Jessen, deputy director of the botanical garden at the Universidad Austral of Chile, shared special news about their trees on this August 6, and their future vision :

‘….We are happy to announce that a new milestone was achieved 6th August…we planted the second-generation trees from the survivor trees we have been raising since 2011. As you can see in the attached pictures and the design created by our landscape collaborator Claudia Salinas, 19 trees are now at the definitive site in our Botanical Garden.’

New batch of Ginkgo seeds have safely arrived at our partners at the Leiden University Botanic Garden.

With gratitude to GLH partner Rinny Kooi and her colleagues in Leiden, to David Dowd, James Ross and their colleagues at GLH regional hub at CAFRE, Northern Ireland, to Nakahara-san and the team at the Hiroshima Botanic Garden — and to generations past and present, who have tended to the seeds and saplings, and will do so in the future.

Akiko Perona, UNITAR chief of communications who was instrumental in helping us plant a hibakujumoku sapling at ICRC, sent us photos of the tree as it stands (July 2024) — a magnificent specimen, clearly ICRC gardeners have taken good care of Hiroshima’s green ambassador of peace.

GLH partner Dr. Elinor Breman, who leads the Millennium Seed Bank project at Kew Gardens in the UK, presented to his majesty the Emperor of Japan two of the Hiroshima saplings received from GLH — the Apananthe aspera (Muku tree), seeds of which were collected and sent in 2021 and planted in 2022, and the Cinnamon camphora (Camphor tree), seeds of which were collected in 2019 and planted in 2022

Elinor wrote:

‘...we displayed two of the saplings grown from GLH seeds during the Emperor of Japan's State Visit in the UK, which took place in Kew Gardens. I talked to His Majesty about the work of the Millennium Seed Bank, and about our collaboration with GLH’.

https://youtu.be/BAXKvtYBidQ?si=eCThHVxw8pdK5y4H&t=689.

“Official YouTube channel operated by Nippon Television Network Corporation's News Department".

GLH co-founder Tomoko Watanabe and master gardener, Chikara Horiguchi, attended a series of events organized by partners in Norway. They had a chance to visit the Ginkgo sapling sent by GLH to Oslo University Botanic Garden and to give talks on Hiroshima and the Hibaku-jumoku in Oslo and Stavanger, thanks to partners Andreas Løvold and Ekuko Naka.  They also attended a special exhibit organized through the Ullandhaug Botanical Garden in Stavanger. To read the transcript of Tomoko’s speeches, click here. They also attended a special exhibit organized through the Ullandhaug Botanical Garden in Stavanger. To read the transcript of Tomoko’s speeches, click here. Click here to view the announcement for the event at Natural History Museum, Oslo University.

We are delighted to learn that Jo Brennan of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria could receive today a batch of hibakujumoku Ginkgo seeds, hand delivered by GLH partners Virginia McNally and Dominic Napoleone of the University of Melbourne. Under a shining sun, a small handover ceremony was set against the backdrop of one of the Gardens' flourishing Ginkgo specimens. The seeds are currently undergoing cold stratification in the Gardens' nursery as they prepare to be sowed. We extend our gratitude to all involved for their efforts to make this exchange happen.

In June 2017 GLH sent seeds to V.F.F. Institute Mare Nostrum e.V. NPO-Austria, who since have diligently documented the process. Their website features images of the seeds, and the flowchart below, detailing application, arrival and sowing of seeds. It also has a detailed technical analysis that includes step-by-step images and explanations for germinating the seeds. Gratitude for their care and efforts, as well as those of Shuichi Hamatani and colleagues from the Hiroshima Botanical Garden.