This morning at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the Lord Provost joined Consul General Mr Nozumu Takaoka, Head of Mission at the Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh and Dominic Fry, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to mark 75 years since the bombing of Hiroshima.
Three Ginkgo bilbao trees were planted in commemoration.
There was a moment of reflection for all in attendance, remembering the events of 75 years ago. A plaque sets out the reason for the planting and will relate the story for anyone visiting the Botanics.
The specimens at the Botanics have a special back story. In the wake of the devastating wartime nuclear bombing of 1945, with hundreds of thousands of human lives lost and the natural environment overwhelmed, the shattered remains of a Ginkgo biloba tree began to bud despite th horror.
In 2015, seeds from the one surviving female Hiroshima ginkgo trees were gifted to the City of Edinburgh as part of the international Mayors for Peace project.
These seeds came into the care of the Garden where horticulturists nurtured 13 trees in the Nursery. Three of these are now planted in commemoration of an awful world event which resonates even now. The survival of wartime trees still growing in Hiroshima reflects the resilience of the species.
There are some mature gingko trees near the Palm Houses.
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