Ficus lyrata

I've got a fiddleleaf fig in the backyard that is maybe 15 feet tall. It's planted right next to the house, and I'm somewhat fearful that its roots will damage the foundation. I talked to the yard guy today, and he's coming next Saturday [or Sunday... this is Florida, hey! Exact times are, well, inexact].

This particular plant was a house plant we brought with us when we moved down here. When it began to thrive, we transplanted it into a 24-inch terra cotta pot and, because we didn't know what else to do with it, put it next to the house against a north-facing wall behind a row of guavas. And promptly forgot about it. Big mistake.

About a year later, we noticed it had sent an enormous root out over the rim of the pot and into the ground. Since then it has grown like crazy [as I watched it, I kept expecting Jack Nicholson to show up], split the pot, and become fully established in the ground. When the roofing guys installed a new roof earlier this year, they hacked off a lot of it. And I've cut off a couple of laterals that were threatening the dish, but it's time the whole thing goes before the foundation does.

It's too bad in a way. I really like the tree and if I'd had any idea how aggressive ["vigorous" is probably a better word] it would be, I'd have put the pot somewhere else or planted it in the ground. Out on the point [the place where the property nestles into the intersection], I've got a very dark ["Rubra," I think it's called] Ficus elastica and a variegated F. elastica--both growing as large shrubs. The F. lyrata would have made a nice addition there.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4
Zone 10a
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]

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