Re: Ficus palmeri and a not so new intro :)

There has been a healthy Ficus palmeri growing in the Sydney Botanic Gardens for the last 20 years or so. The climate here is fairly wet compared to any part of California at similar latitude - around 45 in/yr with modest peak in late summer-early autumn, and it's virtually frost-free until you get about 10 miles inland. But the Ficus palmeri is in the cactus garden in a raised bed with enhanced drainage. Even so, I have a hunch that figs in general are adaptable plants and once established are not very prone to death from rot, regardless of rainfall. We sometimes get a week or more of heavy rain in late summer, which can kill off some true Mediterranean plants.
 
You don't say where you are from. I would have thought that few fig species apart from F. carica will survive winters out in the open at lower than USDA Zone 9, maybe only the upper end of z9 at that. Here in Sydney a large range of figs seem to thrive, and some large-leaved tropical species such as F. lyrata and F. dammaropsis do well a good way from the coast, in what is definitely z9.
 
Tony Rodd
Sydney, Australia
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: d*@yahoo.com
To: m*@ucdavis.edu
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 3:29 AM
Subject: Ficus palmeri and a not so new intro :)

Hey all, i used to be on the list under
b*@csumb.edu but it seems that email doesn't
handle this mail list well and i kept getting booted.
So i'm not so new :).

Anyway, i recently bought a Ficus palmeri, a xeric
tropical fig from Baja California. Not quite
medit-plants material, but interesting none the less.
It would be awesome if i could grow it out in the open
here, but unless i hear some data on true frost
tolerance i'll keep it in a pot. Any of you have
ideas?

I bought it because i read that it's odd for most figs
in that young plants form a thick caudex (mine is only
three inches high and the caudex is an inch thick).
It's also somewhat of a lithophyte. It's rather nice
and the leaves are pleasant sage green color too.

It would also be nice to know when to water it and how
often. I know that baja is a summer-wet climate (which
is why it's not quite medit-plants), so i suspect it
likes to be dry most of the year.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index