The ginkgo’s survival of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 has become legendary, though it wasn’t the only tree to resurge after this catastrophic event.

The fan-shaped leaves of the ginkgo tree stay firmly attached, waiting for the right moment to decide to fall. The tree-letting process is amazingly complex.

The West River Peace Garden hosts a Ginkgo tree, a sapling of a Hiroshima survivor, that now stands as a symbol of the New ...