Re: "Hardy" FIgs
- Subject: Re: "Hardy" FIgs
- From: J* D*
- Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 18:37:40 -0700 (PDT)
Ficus microcarpa is perhaps the third- or fourth-most
common street tree in San Francisco and can be found
sprinkled in parts of Oakland and other bayside towns.
Other ficuses in San Francisco:
F. repens - ubiquitous
F. elastica - a common backyard-planted houseplant
that I've seen reach 30' but mostly stays smaller
F. macrophylla - secreted in Victorian-era backyards
and parks; a few are quite large - 60' in the
Panhandle of Golden Gate Park. Even when felled, they
resprout from the roots.
F. rubiginosa - scattered as a street tree to 25'; one
very large tree in the Panhandle; one small tree with
aerial roots in Chinatown
F. capensis - one healthy large shrub at Strybing
Arboretum in Golden Gate Park
F. religiosa - one small tree in Oakland's Chinatown
in front of a Buddhist temple
F. benjamina - occasional garden plants, usually under
8'.
F. 'alii' - thrives outdoors in shade, only recently
attempted outdoors.
F. deltoidea - same as above, except tolerates sun
More than y'all ever wanted to know about Ficuses
(save F. carica) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Cheers,
Jason Dewees
San Francisco, California
Sunset Zone 17
USDA 10a
--- Tony and Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> Barry Garcia wrote:
> >
> > I've become somewhat interested in various species
> of Figs, mostly just by
> > rereading the section on them in Sunset's Western
> Garden Book. It says in
> > the section on them that F. elastica, and F.
> microcarpa can be grown in my
> > zone (17, USDA 9b). It says F. microcarpa is
> commonly used in the bay
> > area. I dont recall seeing these in any of the bay
> area (San Francisco)
> > towns that i've been in, or maybe i'm just not
> looking hard enough :).
> >
> > Anyway, so what's the deal with both of these? If
> F. elastica is hardy
> > enough to be grown here in zone 17, does it remain
> shrub like, or can it
> > become a tree? And with F. microcarpa, i saw a
> picture of one that seemed
> > to have become a strangler, enveloping another
> tree.
> >
> > By the way, the coolest fig i've seen is the
> massive F. macrophylla in
> > Santa Barbara.
>
> Hi Barry
> Though I have seen and admired F macrophylla (Its
> Australasian common
> name ie Morton Bay Fig, I am not personally
> acquainted with F
> microcarpa, but the Botanica description suggests
> that while it is
> smaller than F macrophylla it is still a sizeable
> tree, topping out at
> about 100 feet. It certainly has aerial roots and is
> doubtless
> potentially a strangler.
>
> I have only once seen the definitely less hardy F
> elastica out of doors
> here and that was in the adjacent main valley, in a
> sheltered shrubbery
> where it had obviously been planted out when it
> outgrew its container.
> It was certainly not bushy, but had a single main
> stem about 8 feet high
> from which sprang a light spreading head of
> branches. It's fate is
> obscure as the garden was later extensively
> reorganized and it
> apparently disappeared in the makeover. There have
> also been a few
> extra-heavy frosts in the area over the years and it
> quite possibly
> perished in one of these (The area normally does not
> go below about -2 C
> and that not every year.) Botanica warns it has a
> very aggressive root
> system and should be sited with care..
>
> It seems one should only attempt one of these figs
> outside a container
> if one has plenty of spare garden space.
>
> Moira
> --
> Tony & Moira Ryan
> Wainuiomata - at the Southern tip of North Island,
> NZ,
> Lat 41°15'S, Long 174°58'E (Antipodes of
> Spain/Southern France)
>
>
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