Descendants of trees that survived the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima 79 years ago grow in the Ljubljana Botanic Gardens as a reminder of the horrors of war and a symbol of the power of survival and peace. The seeds of a bombed ginkgo and Japanese hackberry from Hiroshima were planted in Slovenia in June 2013.

The Botanic Gardens of the University of Ljubljana asked Japan for seeds of the Ginkgo biloba and Celtis jessoensis trees at the initiative of Shin-Ichi Uye, a University of Hiroshima professor and activist working to preserve the trees that survived the first nuclear bomb, and two Slovenian professors, Stanislav Pejovnik and Alenka Malej.

"Ginkgo is an example of a species that shows how resilient nature is. These trees date back to the Permian Period, around 270 million years ago when dinosaurs still lived on Earth," Jože Bavcon, the head of the Ljubljana Botanic Gardens, told the Slovenian Press Agency.

"Although the species almost died out along with the dinosaurs, some trees have survived. They were preserved in Tibetan monastery gardens where [monks] cultivated them," he said.

While there were different species of ginkgo in the distant past, there is now only one - the Ginkgo biloba survived both the dinosaur extinction period and the Hiroshima bombing.

The surviving ginkgo had been growing next to the monastery that was destroyed in the bombing around one kilometre from ground zero. "It was the only tree left there and the one that survived closest to the atomic blast," said Bavcon.

Despite looking dry and dead at first, the tree came back to life, and it is the symbolism of the tree coming back to life that is being preserved to this day.

The trees of peace were ceremonially transplanted from small pots into larger pots in October 2014, and have since been transplanted several more times.

"The idea is to grow trees of a suitable size to be planted at a permanent location next to the new Biotechnical Faculty, right next to the Japanese cherry trees," Bavcon explained.

Just like the Hiroshima survivor trees at the Ljubljana Botanic Gardens, the Japanese cherry trees spread the message of peace.