I don't have any experience with crabapples, but I do have three ginkgo trees on my property. I find that ginkgoes have a lot of pros and few cons. They are hardy, unique, have few pests, and usually have fantastic golden fall foliage. Due to their unique branching, they don't tend to completely block out sunlight to grass or other plants beneath them. One of the major cons is the smell associated with the female trees, which you've obviously already considered. They also do get quite large over many years. I've seen several very old specimens at the Philadelphia Zoo that easily rival the trunk and canopy size of mature oaks and sycamores. Overall, if you have the room for it, a ginkgo is a great tree that won't disappoint you. S

Pennyhal, as this problem started the year the drought started I'd strongly suspect that was the main problem. Please don't take this personal but people that plant trees in turf set themselves up for problems with them. Grass only has a root zone of 8"-12". Trees generally start at about 8" and go to several feet depending on the trees. If you water to supply the grass, the trees will keep their roots high to use the available water. When you got your drought started there wasn't sufficient water to keep the tree supplied. Next year you may want to deep water weekly during spring and summer to help the trees. Say 30 to 45 min. You will have lots of run off and PO lots of neighbors but your trees will thank you. Set your sprinklers on that day for 3-4am to keep neighbors in the dark. toronado,California has a Mediterranean climate and the rains STOP there usually in April or May and don't start again til Oct, People have to supply all non natives with water to keep them alive during the summer. I lived there about 20 years before moving back to the St Louis area. Most areas they may not have to put up with the winter but they have a whole other set of problems to deal with.

I used to live on one of those incredibly picturesque narrow alleys here in Philadelphia, with a row of gingkoes in it (there are many gingkoes here in such situations, in streets and alleys that are really too narrow for anything but a torturously pruned gingko) One year there was an overnight hard freeze in early November, and plonk! Almost all the gingko leaves fell in one night, with only about half of them yellowed. And yes, those lovely little gingko stinkers were literally wall-to-wall on the street - there was literally no way to leave my apartment without stepping on a bajillion of them. Good times.

Barb, I spent an hour or so in the backyard today...poking into pots looking for pips and I found plenty to enjoy! My first thought when I was at the fourth pot was why didn't I bring my list with me?? I was surprised at the amount of "green" nibs already and the purple and blue and brown (S&S) shoots too. It was so exhilarating for me! Sagae has such fat shoots and they are always the very first emergers in my garden and the tallest. They are only up I'd say about 1/2-3/4" tall but a light green so easily seen from a distance. Of course you know how the story goes....you go out there just to look but inevitably you start pulling off old growth from all the perennials and cleaning up and tossing debris around...until you are forced to stop because you have 5 slivers in your fingers and hands! Lol. I discovered my new War Paint (it was a 2-eyed beauty) had rotted. So did my year-old Giantland Sunny Mouse Ears. I will definitely replace both. These plants were on the deck and after they froze like an ice cube they were buried under ice and snow. I could tell by the heavy weight of these defrosted pots that they were completely drowned before they froze. The crowns came off like mush. Poor things...it bothers me when I lose plants. The past few weeks I've been battling rain, having to run out and tip pots on their sides so they wouldn't absorb any more moisture. It'll take a while for them to dry to a healthy level as it is and I just don't have time to repot like I should. Hospital visits etc. have been eating up my time for the past month and I am actually getting impatient with the patient! Lol (my bad) because "all I wanna do is have some fun" with my hostas and my garden! That impatience is known as h.d.s. - hosta deprivation syndrome, a very serious, debilitating happiness depriving disease for which the only cure is 24/7 hosta exposure! ;) Still need to buy ink to print updated list but I will use last year's for now as it's handy. My week-end goal is to count pips and clean up debris. Lawn in back yard is so green already and looks great! Wet, but great. Can't remember it looking that good until June in prior years. Crocus, daffodils, snowdrops, hyacinths all blooming, forsythias are on fire with magnificent blooms and gorgeous scent all around. Ohyeah, it sure is great to be alive, isn't it?!