The Champion Ginkgo of Highland Park

Pittsburgh's champion ginkgo grows just below a children's playground in Highland Park. In March 2024 the city's Shade Tree Commission named it a Pittsburgh Champion, the commission's own category for the largest tree of a species on public property, which makes this the biggest ginkgo the city has on record on its own land. It is a city title, not a state or national one. The tree is a far older design than anything else in the park. Ginkgo is the last living species of a lineage that goes back to the age of the dinosaurs, and its fan-shaped, notched leaves look almost exactly like fossil leaves laid down many millions of years ago. It comes from China, it shrugs off city air, and it has been planted along streets and in parks across the world. November is its moment. The whole crown turns butter gold, and then, often within a day or two, lets go of nearly every leaf at once, leaving a yellow circle on the grass beneath it. The commission did not publish a girth, a height or an age. The title says it is bigger than any other ginkgo on city land; by how much is a question for whoever stands under it with a tape. If that is you, tell us. The city's champion black locust is about 100 metres away, so one visit covers both.