Ficus in Hong Kong

[miamicuse]

Some of you have seen my threads where I shared my constant struggles with a giant Ficus benjamina next to my house.  The struggles are on the surface, up in the air, and even down in the crawlspaces, including a monthly inspection of all my potted plants to ensure no ficus roots makes it up through the pots' drain holes, but this is not about that.

This time I am a visitor, so a completely different perspective, because it's not my sidewalk, not my driveway and not my house foundation, I actually found it kind of "cool" 😁.

I was recently in Hong Kong, and I have never seen so many Ficus trees, it's everywhere - along the streets, in the parks (tiny parks with hardly any space), grown in giant raised planters that couldn't contain the roots so cracks everywhere, and many as bonsai.

Here are a few Ficus benjamina along a street with clay brick sidewalks, see how the surface roots spread following the grout joints.

[miamicuse]

Here is another one that sits on some giant granite boulders.  It's roots getting inside and over the rocks and the cracks between them.

What is interesting is these giant granite chunks frames a side doorway to the inside of a commercial building.

You go inside this door and follow a corridor and eventually it leads to the core of Cheung Kong Center, a 70 story skyscraper.

[miamicuse]

I found these potted trees inside a courtyard of a buddist temple.  I think these are ficus yes?

Love the hexagonal and octagonal pots!

[miamicuse]

one more...

[ASHCVS]

Love your photos. Just returned from Taipei.

[miamicuse]

On 12/11/2024 at 11:28 PM, ASHCVS said:

Love your photos. Just returned from Taipei.

Interesting! I visited Taipei three years ago and enjoyed it.

I did talk to some locals in Hong Kong and they told me many years ago before mega cities were formed the Chinese had small villages all over and each village consists of everyone with the same last name.  So you have the village of Chen, village of Wong, village of Lee etc...and whenever there are important matters to settle the elders usually gather under "the ficus/banyan tree" to have a town hall meeting and everyone attended.  It's also where goods are traded, performances are held and stories are told.  I asked what if there isn't a ficus tree?  I was told there is always a giant ficus tree in a village, and that the biggest one is always "the designated ficus/banyan" tree.  Everything is referenced from that ficus tree to an outsider, such as "once you found the ficus, go east for 150 paces is the Dragon Inn" or "This medicine can be bought at the house of Yen, and that is south of the ficus, you walk twice the time it takes to sip a cup of tea".