It is official; we will be opening in November 2009. After 8 months of moving the enormous amounts of soil required to change the elevation of the 70 acres that are being developed into gardens and facilities from about 4 feet above sea level to between 7 and 14 feet above sea level the site is finally ready for gardens. Last week we moved, Gumby, our much traveled gumbo limbo to its permanent location. We also moved two large trees into the Vicky C. and David Byron Smith Children’s Garden. One is a massive royal poinciana that will provide some shade for the performance and picnic area in the Herb Family Education Lawn and Amphitheater. The other tree, a giant strangler fig, the root ball was over 20’ in diameter, will soon have two tree houses built around it. 
I have always been fascinated with strangler figs, Ficus spp. There are a great many species and they occur in tropical rainforests around the world. Universally they are a keystone species providing an important food source to a wide range of birds and mammals. Each of the approximately 1,000 species of fig has a specific wasp species that is its sole pollinator.
What I find really amazing is that these trees have found an incredible strategy to life in the rainforest. Instead of growing up from the ground under the dense shade of the canopy they start life in the canopy. The seeds germinate it the crown of the host tree where sunlight is readily available. The fig grows quickly sending long roots toward the ground and at the same time uses the light to produce a mass of vegetation that soon competes for light with the host plant. Gradually the roots completely encompass the trunk of the host and ultimately it dies. In tropical rainforests it isn’t uncommon to find huge strangler figs with enormous buttressed roots and a cave-like void where the host tree once grew. Cool trees.
They are in the mulberry family, Moraceae, the fruit (actually false fruit) looks like a mulberry turned inside out. The fig we eat, the common fig, is the species Ficus carica and is the plant that supplied the leaves famous for covering the nakedness of Adam and Eve. It typically grows to about 25’ in SW Florida.
Buddha is said to have found enlightenment under a sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, and while it is a beautiful tree in a park, home gardeners beware, these figs become enormous trees with the ability to lift sidewalks and driveways and they are very vulnerable to hurricane damage. Another word of caution, recently a new pest of figs has come into our region, the ficus whitefly. It is nasty – check out the IFAS web site at University of Florida for more information.
I have always been fascinated with strangler figs, Ficus spp. There are a great many species and they occur in tropical rainforests around the world. Universally they are a keystone species providing an important food source to a wide range of birds and mammals. Each of the approximately 1,000 species of fig has a specific wasp species that is its sole pollinator.
What I find really amazing is that these trees have found an incredible strategy to life in the rainforest. Instead of growing up from the ground under the dense shade of the canopy they start life in the canopy. The seeds germinate it the crown of the host tree where sunlight is readily available. The fig grows quickly sending long roots toward the ground and at the same time uses the light to produce a mass of vegetation that soon competes for light with the host plant. Gradually the roots completely encompass the trunk of the host and ultimately it dies. In tropical rainforests it isn’t uncommon to find huge strangler figs with enormous buttressed roots and a cave-like void where the host tree once grew. Cool trees.
They are in the mulberry family, Moraceae, the fruit (actually false fruit) looks like a mulberry turned inside out. The fig we eat, the common fig, is the species Ficus carica and is the plant that supplied the leaves famous for covering the nakedness of Adam and Eve. It typically grows to about 25’ in SW Florida.
Buddha is said to have found enlightenment under a sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, and while it is a beautiful tree in a park, home gardeners beware, these figs become enormous trees with the ability to lift sidewalks and driveways and they are very vulnerable to hurricane damage. Another word of caution, recently a new pest of figs has come into our region, the ficus whitefly. It is nasty – check out the IFAS web site at University of Florida for more information.
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