One of them is unstable. I think 'Majestic Butterfly' is the one. However, it can easily be kept in check by removing the non-variegated shoots. It is a colorful as you believe it to be.

Dax

Hi Dax -

Is there a variegated cultivar that you would recommend over 'Majestic Butterfly'?

Thanks!

PlantMarker

I purchased MB last year from Klehm's and the variegation was great. I believe that the variegation on MB is much more stable than on many of the other variegated ginkgoes in the trade. MB is a variegated sport from 'Jade Butterfly' so it should retain the same form as JB.

As far as other variegated ginkgoes go, I have heard that 2 of the 3 variegated clones being sold, are female.

MB is expensive, but you will get an excellent plant from Klehm's. Their nursery stock is outstanding.
My .02
Mike

Being a sport of "Jade Butterfly", that would mean that "Majestic Butterfly" is much smaller than the normal Ginkgo, correct? So perhaps a person could reach any reverting limbs and prune them out.

Is it likely that MB eventually starts to grow large as I understand some dwarfs do? (I've heard that some plants sold as small plants at some point "take off" and grow vigorously.)

Thanks Mike!

Vancleaveterry, A sport is a bud mutation like a witches' broom but that doesn't mean it'll be dwarf. The leaves will certainly be different (could be variegated, could be larger/smaller), but the rate of growth could go either way (faster than parent or less-quick).

Your other thought about dwarfs growing faster when younger can also be a maybe, maybe not. Some things slow down when they get larger after faster growth spurts. Everything is different man. There's a lot yet to be written into books.

Dax

Typically with seed-raised trees there is slow growth at first followed by a middle phase where the specimen builds up size, then maturity settles in and growth slows markedly. This sequence can be quite dramatic with kinds like magnolias, where the seedlings tiny initially, then grow like sunflowers for perhaps decades in some instances, them become spreading and often quite twiggy when energy is shifted to flowering and fruiting, eventually producing a quite different architecture. Familiar conifers that do the same kind of thing include some species of pines, conical for years then rounded and spreading in maturity.

Klehm's states that the growth rate is approximately 7-8' tall and 6' wide in five years. I think that would put it well out of dwarf range. Since it will be small to start with, I plan on putting it in a small container and continue to pot up, eventually to a have a large container for my deck.

There are two large maples in my yard that may need to come down - one has a large split near the base and the other is in the way of a possible addition we're thinking about. Either way, if the 'Magestic Butterfly' really takes off growth-wise, I have spots where it can go.

It seems there are a few gingkos that have slow growth rates and will mature much smaller, but I'm not sure 'Majestic Butterfly' is one of those.

Elizabeth