Our partner in Italy, Prof. Antonio Brunori and other members of PFEC including Marco Bussone, Ana Belén Noriega, and Makiko Horio came to Hiroshima on May 14. We presented Antonio to master gardener Chikara Horiguchi—and soon they became best friends, despite the language barrier—language of trees truly universal! We also learned so much from Antonio, whose passion for and knowledge about trees impressive, and are looking forward to more cooperation in the future around the hibakujumoku. Attached press release from PEFC in response to the earlier awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, including information on their activities related to the hibakujumoku seeds and second-generation saplings. Thanks to the passion and dedication of Antonio and Tiziana Volta, as well as their many colleagues and associates, 49 trees from GLH seeds have been "adopted" all over Italy to date.

We are happy to introduce our new partners at The Friends of the Gardens of Hougoumont in Brussels, Belgium. Our focal point, Alexander de Vos van Steenwijk, shared a brochure describing this impressive project, the Hougoumont Peace Gardens. Many thanks to our colleagues at CAFRE, for mobilizing swiftly for seed dispatch.

Our partners at the Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques (CJB) in Geneva have sent an update of three of the Ginko biloba, which have germinated and are now growing in their experimental greenhouses. Pictured right are the saplings, as well as Head Gardener, Nicolas Freyre receiving the most recent delivery of seeds. Thank you to Diane Bacher for sharing this update with us. 

On May 15, 2025, apprentices planted ten trees, each 1.2-1.5 metres tall, in the Dunedin Botanic Garden arboretum. Located between the sports field and the Dunedin Northern Cemetery, this new grove—part of the Green Legacy Hiroshima initiative—sits alongside a popular walking track. We are all excited to see them flourish!

Text of our statement at ceremony to plant saplings of hibakujumoku donated by GLH to UN Headquarters, May 5, 2025 (delivered by Ms. Junko Shimazu on behalf of the GLH community):

It is my honor to represent today the Green Legacy Hiroshima community in Japan and in more than 40 countries.

Allow me to briefly draw for you the picture of the long journey these persimmons have taken, and those who made it happen.

The mother tree was atomic bombed at Atago Pond, 530 meters from the hypo center. By some miracle, it survived. Human survivors in Hiroshima drew strength from seeing its revival, and in turn provided it special status, now given to some 160 trees that survived within the hypo center’s 2-km radius.

In 2011 two women in Hiroshima — Nassrine Azimi then at UNITAR, and Tomoko Watanabe at ANT-Hiroshima, decided to join forces, to spread the seeds and message of these trees worldwide. They called their initiative Green Legacy Hiroshima. UNITAR and many many others were inspired, and stepped in to provide in-kind support. A global campaign was born.

The seeds of these particular saplings were collected by the GLH team overseen by master gardener Horiguchi-san, then carefully stored at the Hiroshima Botanic Garden (HBG), then sent to our regional hub, the San Diego Botanic Garden (SDBG). Plant curators in San Diego raised the seedlings and in early spring carefully bundled two in a bamboo enclosure for the journey to New York. The receiving team at UNHQ kept careful watch over them for the last few weeks. Thanks to all of them we are now gathered, to leave a green legacy for future generations (at UNHQ). Tomoko always says that A-bombed trees speak to us with silent voices. And Nassrine always says GLH is a 1000-year initiative, and it takes a community, to do anything this long and this worthwhile.

Thank you for becoming part of this community.

日本語はこちらです。Click here to see coverage by NHK News (in Japanese) on the ceremony.

We would also like to highlight our amazing partners at SDBG for coordinating the safe arrival of the saplings to NYC.

Some exciting updates from Dr. Gerardo Avalos:

Ready to plant their first two ginkgos, one in the Japanese Garden at the Lankester Botanical Gardens in Cartago, the other on the main campus of the University of Costa Rica. They are also coordinating with the Japanese Embassy in Costa Rica, and hope to hold the planting ceremonies around August 6th, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As part of this project, we are developing a children's book (for ages 5–8) inspired by the Ginkgo story […] This book is being translated into multiple languages—12 so far—thanks to a dedicated international group of volunteers, mostly young students, who are generously contributing their time and expertise. 

– Dr. Gerardo Avalos

Dr. Avalos also plans to translate the book into two indigenous languages in Costa Rica, as well as producing a physical book and an online version (which will have all translations as well as background music).

I hope to spread the word about building a culture of Peace and a future in which humanity will not have to face the possibility of annihilation due to atomic weapons and weapons of mass destruction. 

– Dr. Gerardo Avalos

We are happy to announce a partnership with the City of Beuzeville in Normandy, France. Pictured left are Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Dine and head of the local gardening team, Jonathan Brixy, holding the envelopes containing the seeds. 

A lovely update with photos shared by Professor Ann Sherif!

On March 12, 2025, Oberlin College students & faculty met the magnificent Green Legacy wisteria nurtured by Kendal at Oberlin residents and staff. As a bitterly cold Ohio winter gives way to spring, we gathered to plan signs for the hibaku jumoku nisei wisteria at Kendal and the gingkos at Oberlin College. Oberlin College students Kana Sakamoto and Kisa Biely spoke about their visit to the parent wisteria at Senda Elementary School in Hiroshima. With an unstable international order and nuclear weapons in play, Oberlin residents pledged to care for the trees and to spread their messages of hope, and danger.

Lovely illustrations, courtesy of Dr. Rinny Kooi, titled, Illustrations E, F and G.

"E: Leaf of a young twig with incised leaf and a leaf of an older twig without incised leaf, F and G: twigs with leaves"

2024 marks the first time that the only Eucalyptus hibakujumoku—located on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle—gave fruit, which were collected and sent to our partners in Australia. While no seeds were found, we will all persevere and try again next year.

(Pictured from left to right in group photo: Dermot Molloy, Senior Curator Horticulture at Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne; Virginia McNally, System Garden Curator and Arborist at The University of Melbourne; and Jo Brennan, Horticulturalist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne)

Our stately Eucalyptus hibakujumoku, sketched and kindly gifted by Mr. Peter Sparber of Philadelphia.