Ficus Species, Roxburgh Fig

Ficus auriculata is a stunning small foliage and fruit tree. The leaves get huge, beautifuly broad roundish fan shaped and very attractiv...Read Moreely pleated.
The thing that I personally love about them is the flush of new leaves that appear in the rainy season. Out of the candle red leaf sheaths of the leaf buds emerge those huge lovely pleated fan shaped leaves in a stunning deep red that turn coppery then slowly fade to a lovely pastel orange/pink flush even when the leaves are aready pretty large. By the time they mature they become a lovely bright green. A couple of flushes a year so it is often covered in colour in the wet season.

It's not a very tall tree but spreads rather charmingly like it was a giant. Very large shrub size tree, thick trunk with thick low slung branches forming a cloud of foliage. The thick branches and trunk low down get encrusted with large flattish figs which are very sweet and delicious, turning a reddish brown when ripe, inside a deep luscious juicy red. Some trees are sweeter than others

I've seen this tree growing all over South East Asia both as an ornamental and as a fruit tree. It's use in garden landscapes in SEA is legendary. The big colourful leaves are a stunning foil to finer leaved shrubs in my garden. It prefers high humidity and warmth and gets the biggest most spectacular leaves where summer rainfall is seasonally very high. Evergreen in optimal climates like the humid coast but if stressed or getting too dry in the dry season it will drop many of it's leaves. To avoid this water periodically in the dry season. This tree is ideal for Southern Florida In America or anywhere else there is sufficient humidity warmth and water in summer. A cooler winter is tolerated as long as the temps don't fall much bellow 10- 15%C. It only grows in Nepal where it's a native at very low* elevations. Often sold as F. auriculata "Everest", however don't read too much in the Everest part, that's just marketing. It's only really suitable for zones ten and above or with great care in a micro climate slightly less. It does need optimal conditions to look optimal, so more on the tropical side is best. There are other ficus species which can take a great deal more cold in their stride.

Often sold as a pot plant, it does quite well as one too particularly in warm humid bright bathrooms or largish open air courtyards where it looks positively gorgeous. Not one for air-con and dry air, spider mite and leaf drop will render it leggy.

Fast growing in the ground in the beginning, then grows thicker and sturdier, only rapidlly in very short bursts when conditions are optimal and the tree gets covered in lovely colour. It's attractive even as a small tree. Best to allow the space width wise to reach its full lovely potential. You can support the low thick horizontal branches on blocks to train them off the ground or they may rest on the ground eventually. Both look graceful, interesting and utterly in character. The branches my root eventually but not aggressively like a banyan would. Full sunshine which will also give you the best colour.

We live in the los angeles area and our ficus auriculata was doing very well, until the new gardener cut the bottom growth. It seems this...Read More bottom growth was helping to keep the soil moist in our 100+ degree weather. Now ficus is dropping leaves like crazy! We are so sad, but hope it recoups.
Has anyone had any luck with growing new plants from cuttings?

I've had this tree growing in my yard for about a year. The leaves all fall off mid to late winter but they quickly start growing again i...Read Moren spring. I love this tree and its beautiful leaves for our tropical backyard. It was the first thing I planted when we started to re-do our yard, and of course, now it is not in the right place, so I'd like to move it. It is not huge (about 4ft). Has anyone had any experience doing this? I assume it will fair well as most of ficus root easily. Is there a specific time of year that would be best to do this?

In my z9a, this fig dies to the ground and emerges in spring. I have seen a spectacular specimen at Yucca Do Nursery when it was located...Read More off FM 359 in Hempstead, TX. I was told it was not given any sort of winter protection and was planted inground in a brutally sunny location. I lost a Roxburgh fix in the winter of 2008 and quickly replaced it. It makes such a statement in the garden. Mine are in ground, in moist locations.