Fiddle Leaf Fig - Ficus lyrata

[piping plovers]

I have not owned a Fiddle leaf fig since the 80s and just picked one up for indoors.  I forgot how much I love ‘em.  Photo below. 
 

I’ve been seeing them saturate the background settings in tv commercials, magazines since 2020.  Became the Covid comfort plant for indoors lockdown.  They are everywhere now.

Anyone ever see these planted outdoors in the warmer climates?  I’ve never seen any on my visits to FL, HI, Caribbean. I’m guessing they are too gigantic for landscape use other than botanical gardens or a campus? I have seen large banyan-like trees in FL and imagine they would be similar in mature size.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, piping plovers said:

I have not owned a Fiddle leaf fig since the 80s and just picked one up for indoors.  I forgot how much I love ‘em.  Photo below. 
 

I’ve been seeing them saturate the background settings in tv commercials, magazines since 2020.  Became the Covid comfort plant for indoors lockdown.  They are everywhere now.

Anyone ever see these planted outdoors in the warmer climates?  I’ve never seen any on my visits to FL, HI, Caribbean. I’m guessing they are too gigantic for landscape use other than botanical gardens or a campus? I have seen large banyan-like trees in FL and imagine they would be similar in mature size.

They're around ..and yes, lol ..they can get MASSIVE, especially in places like FL and Hawaii

iNat observation data..
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/201458-Ficus-lyrata

Pretty sure there are some big specimens around S. Cal as well ( there's a picture on Reddit of a large specimen in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Thought Balboa ..or San Diego Botanical ..and/or the Zoo had some good sized specimens as well 

[piping plovers]

14 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

They're around ..and yes, lol ..they can get MASSIVE, especially in places like FL and Hawaii

Thank Silas.  It’s a good thing they are not deciduous trees like our temperate climate trees.  Cleaning up those big leaves would be like picking up roof shingles after a DIY roof replacement, each year.

[Silas_Sancona]

20 minutes ago, piping plovers said:

Thank Silas.  It’s a good thing they are not deciduous trees like our temperate climate trees.  Cleaning up those big leaves would be like picking up roof shingles after a DIY roof replacement, each year.

  Funny you mention that, ..When picking up Sea Grape leaves at the Yacht Club i helped maintain in Clearwater that one year, " Roof Shingles " came to mind when finding something to com pare how thick they are to.. F. lyrata, and others like F elastica, also have leaves that are just as tough, and while fairly clean, they still drop plenty of them throughout a year..

[Kailua_Krish]

Multiple large ones tucked around honolulu if you know where to look... and yes they get quite large

[Merlyn]

I have a small one in the ground, but it's definitely deciduous here.  Well, I guess to be more accurate, it gets burned to the ground every year.  I had 30F with heavy frost in February 2021...burned to the ground.  I moved it last summer to a slightly warmer spot closer to the house.  It took medium frost and 28F in January...and burned halfway to the ground.  But it resprouts around March-April and looks great the rest of the year.  Here it is today, with the sticks of a torched Hawaiian TI and a dead Dictyosperma Album/Rubrum next to it...

[piping plovers]

49 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

I have a small one in the ground, but it's definitely deciduous here. 

Ah, yeh I imagine it could even be grown like that as a seasonal privacy screen/hedge.

[Tracy]

On 4/8/2022 at 5:29 PM, piping plovers said:

Anyone ever see these planted outdoors in the warmer climates?  I’ve never seen any on my visits to FL, HI, Caribbean. I’m guessing they are too gigantic for landscape use other than botanical gardens or a campus?

They do fine here in coastal California outdoors as well.  My wife had one in the house for a period of time, but when it outgrew the space we moved it outside still in it's pot on the deck.  One of my friends in the neighborhood has one that has been in the ground for at least a decade that I remember, probably longer.  They keep it trimmed back so that it grows more upright.  I'll try to get a photo of it.  I know I've seen them many times out and about in various parts of the county growing outside.  Never as large as the biggest growing Ficus here but sizeable trees that hold foliage year round.  They really were the hit as indoor plants a few years back and still seem to be popular for that application. 

[Manalto]

They had a few nice ones in a bank I used to use, where they reached to the high (20'?) ceilings. I agree that they're beautiful. I think I may even prefer them indoors, where their large, glossy leaves have more presence. Now I want one, too. Thanks a lot - I'm going to have to add on to the house if this continues.

[MarkbVet]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:13 PM, piping plovers said:

Thank Silas.  It’s a good thing they are not deciduous trees like our temperate climate trees.  Cleaning up those big leaves would be like picking up roof shingles after a DIY roof replacement, each year.

Wish I could grow them outdoors here!  There are hardy (and evergreen) figs that do well in our zone 8 climate outdoors, but leaves are not huge!   The largest leafed plants we can grow would probably be the Gunneras, though they do die back in winter.   Aralias look tropical too, kinda like a split leaf Philodendron, and are very hardy/evergreen here.  And a couple species of hardy banana plants, very large leaves on some of them, but die back to the ground most winters unless protected. (they grow back with a vengeance each year though!)

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by MarkbVet