We were invited to brunch today by a friend we hadn't seen in a while. She has a big backyard with lots of potential that she can do whatever she wants with. I was drawing plans in no time. Shrubs for wildlife and focal points from inside. Compost bin can hide there, behind the tomatoes and squash. Beans there, peas over a bit, to climb the fence. For the front, set seed for a meadow cutting garden of easy natives, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Monarda, Aquilegia, or whatever you want. It will all be fine under the amazing fig tree. wait. what? Amazing fig tree?! Sa-lammin'!
Luckily our lovely host Megan said she couldn't eat another so we had a festive little harvest before we hit the road. Delish!
You know how figs are pollinated, right? It's a pretty fascinating story, from a botanical standpoint, that is.
So, a common fruiting fig (Ficus carica) is a flowering tree, but where are the flowers? When figs form, the flowers are actually inside that mini pear shaped syconium. Ultimately you cannot see a figs flowers until you cut into a fig. At the base of figs is a tiny hole where tiny wasps fly in and buzz around to pollinate the flowers. For every flower is a pollinator, remember. Well, how do they know the flowers are in there, you might ask. Easy. The whole time the tiny little wasps are just looking for a suitable place to lay their eggs. Plants, they're somthing. I'll leave you with that, I have to get back to football anyway. Happy Sunday.
Curious to know more about growing figs in New York City? Well, I happen to write two pieces about that for my old work blog and you are invited to check those out too if you like:
The original Q&A from the HSNY blog
and then
Part two, complete with some very cool pics of bound fig trees
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