From Orwell to Pink Floyd: Animals & A Fig's Tale VL p.3

Sun Apr 19 17:19:44 UTC 2020

Creeping fig is a wonderful ground cover or wall cover.  It is only
invasive if not maintained, which isn't difficult.  Ficus trees are equally
tenacious.  Left outside in a pot, it will get its roots into the ground by
hook or crook.

David Morris

On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 11:28 AM ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:

> Invasive?
> Creeping fig .....
>
>
> Creeping fig (Ficus pumila), hardy from U.S. Department of Agriculture
> plant hardiness zone 8 to 9 or 11, depending on cultivar, is the only
> member of the fig family to slither up walls and crawl on the ground.
> It seldom flowers, so unlike some of its messier relatives, it
> produces little or no fruit.
>
> Creeping fig’s remarkable growth rate allows a few vines to completely
> cover a wall or pergola in a year or two. The vine grows vertically 20
> to 40 feet, then sends out side shoots horizontally. When young,
> creeping fig grows lacy patterns of small, glossy heart-shaped leaves,
> densely arranged along a multi-stemmed vine in a most attractive,
> delicate pattern. when the plant reaches maturity at about two years
> of age, it continues to grow aggressively sideways, producing leathery
> oval leaves up to 4 inches long on thick, woody stems. Grown on a
> tree, its aggressive habit might even begin to shade out the tree's
> crown.
>
>
>
> Creeping fig is evergreen within its hardiness range, making it a good
> candidate for coverage of ugly walls, arbors or trellises. Happily, it
> withstands a few cold blasts down to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
> Although it will drop leaves after a cold snap, it will re-grow leaves
> and, with some pruning, look as good as new within the next season. It
> also presents an alternative where invasive evergreen ground covers
> might be initial choices.  it has similar potential for escape and
> requires attentive, regular pruning for control.
>
>
>
> Creeping fig requires no ties, because it climbs by means of little
> sucker arms that hold on to wood, concrete, stone or metal without any
> additional help. This may be very cool, but the little suckers also
> hold on like grim death, taking paint or bits of concrete, stone and
> wood whenever they are pulled away from a surface. For this reason,
> most gardeners grow the vines on a trellis, topiary frame or some
> framework that is dispensable.
>
> Creeping fig suffers few diseases and resists most pests. It prefers
> part shade, but will also grow in full shade or morning sun. To
> complete its endearing qualities, creeping fig is highly drought
> tolerant. All of this is fortunate enough, but the vine also tolerates
> slightly alkaline as well as slightly acidic soil and actually prefers
> less fertile soil, thriving in infertile clay or sandy loam. To finish
> its list of cool characteristics, creeping figs are moderately
> tolerant of aerosol salt, meaning that it can be planted near the
> ocean, where dunes or other barriers provide a buffer for the plant.
>
>
>
> It can become invasive and cover structures and landscape features if
> not maintained and its growth contained. When climbing buildings or
> wooden structures, the woody tendrils can cling or root in, and damage
> structures and/or their surface finishes.[citation needed] The plant
> requires the fig wasp Blastophaga pumilae for pollination, and is fed
> upon by larvae of the butterfly Marpesia petreus.
>
>
>
> Like other plant species in the family Moraceae, contact with the
> milky sap of Ficus pumila can cause phytophotodermatitis,[8] a
> potentially serious skin inflammation. Although the plant is not
> poisonous per se, F. pumila is listed in the FDA Database of Poisonous
> Plants.
>
> https://homeguides.sfgate.com/cool-creeping-fig-plants-66003.html
>
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_pumila
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 9:57 AM ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > A little tale of the fig in Zoyd's yard.
> > Maybe you don't give a fig and maybe I don't shivagit if you do or
> > don't ... here, I've provided the link for the article by Karp and
> > I've excerpted for you if you would rather not.
> >
> > I will examine the squadron of Blue Jays and the Carrier Pigeons and
> > the Dog next.
> >
> > If this has been done, let me kow and I'll move on to the dress.
> >
> >
> > By DAVID KARP
> >
> > AUG. 11, 1999 12 AM
> >
> > SPECIAL TO THE TIMES, LA TIMES
> >
> > “What fruit has the eye of a widow and the cloak of a beggar?” asks an
> > old Spanish riddle. Answer: a really ripe fig, revealing its honeyed
> > lusciousness by a teardrop of syrup at the bottom and a tattered skin.
> >
> >
> >
> > For millenniums, voluptuous figs, fresh and dried, have inspired
> > aficionados to mania. So much of the story of figs seems mythic: the
> > miracle of caprification, in which a tiny, frustrated wasp plays Cupid
> > to figs; the breakthrough a century ago that harnessed this process
> > for California farmers; the saga of the Los Angeles promoter who
> > founded a Fresno fig empire with 660,000 blasts of dynamite.
> >
> > […]
> >
> > Figs were introduced to California by Franciscan missionaries,
> > starting with the founding of Mission San Diego in 1769. The
> > dark-skinned, pink-fleshed Mission fig was the only kind grown here
> > until the 1850s, when settlers brought other varieties from the East
> > Coast and Europe.
> >
> >
> >
> > In 1880, G.P. Rixford of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin imported
> > 14,000 cuttings of this variety [the Smyrna fig, the “true fig of
> > commerce”]  from Turkey, which he distributed to subscribers. The
> > trees flourished, but, to everyone’s dismay, the figs dropped, unripe,
> > at walnut size.
> >
> >
> >
> > The problem was that, although most figs (called common figs) bear
> > fruit to maturity on their own, Smyrna figs must be pollinated by
> > Blastophaga psenes, the fig wasp. This gnat-sized insect lives only in
> > dry, inedible wild figs, called caprifigs.
> >
> >
> >
> > Since ancient times, Mediterranean growers have assisted this
> > pollination process, called caprification, by hanging branches of
> > caprifigs in Smyrna fig orchards as the female wasps emerge from the
> > caprifigs in the spring, coated with pollen. Searching for new
> > caprifigs in which to lay their eggs, they enter Smyrnas through the
> > eyes at the bottom, and dust the tiny flowers inside with their
> > pollen. The wasps die without laying their eggs, since the Smyrna fig
> > flowers are too long for their ovipositors, but the figs develop.
> >
> >
> >
> > Although many American fruit experts considered caprification to be a
> > peasant superstition, growers repeatedly imported caprifigs; each
> > time, something went wrong, and the wasps didn’t take hold. Finally,
> > George Roeding of Fresno succeeded in establishing a colony, and in
> > August 1899 his orchard bore large, blond, plump Smyrna figs. After a
> > contest, Roeding re-christened the variety Calimyrna, for California
> > Smyrna.
> >
> >
> >
> > California’s big fig boom began in 1910, when a Los Angeles real
> > estate developer named J.C. Forkner leased a swath of hog wallow
> > badlands northwest of Fresno. To this point, the area had served only
> > as pasture, because an adobe-like layer of hardpan lay a few feet
> > under the surface and the pockmarked terrain made irrigation
> > impossible.
> >
> >
> >
> > But Forkner had a vision. He hired dozens of tractors, still novel in
> > those years, to level the ground, blasted 660,000 holes through the
> > hardpan so that trees could take root and planted figs on 12,000
> > acres. Next he blizzarded the nation with advertisements and brochures
> > promising, “Own your own Fig Garden, You’ll be rich! Five acres
> > produce $4,000 annual income.” Chasing this lure of profits in
> > paradise, hundreds of aspiring farmers, many from the East, bought
> > into Forkner’s Fig Gardens.
> >
> >
> >
> > California fig cultivation peaked at 42,500 acres in 1927. Forkner
> > lost his land in the Depression, as did most of the Fig Garden
> > smallholders. He later recouped his holdings and died a wealthy man in
> > 1969. After a boom during World War II the fig industry settled into a
> > long, slow decline, squeezed by increasing labor costs and cheaper
> > imports.
> >
> >
> >
> > Business recovered somewhat and stabilized in the 1970s and ‘80s, but
> > as Fresno sprawled northward, development gobbled up much of the old
> > Fig Gardens. Most growers moved 25 miles north to cheaper land in the
> > Madera-Chowchilla area. Today, only about 1,500 acres of figs--less
> > than a tenth of the state’s 16,500 acres--remain in the former “Fig
> > Capital of America.”
> >
> >
> >
> > Along California Highway 99, orchards lie abandoned, strewn with
> > discarded sofas and television sets, the weeds shoulder-high. Heedless
> > that the flanks are turned, the venerable, gnarled trees still bear
> > generous crops, but only squirrels and birds appreciate the soft,
> > sugary fruit.
> >
> >
> >
> > Aggravating problems for fig growers, Nabisco, the dominant buyer of
> > dried figs, decided five years ago to pad out its Fig Newtons line
> > with products made from other fruit. This cannibalized sales of the
> > traditional cookies, and fig paste prices collapsed to $300 a ton from
> > $1,000 a ton. Growers had to adapt or face ruin.
> >
> >
> >
> > Some decided to emphasize sales of fresh figs, which have grown by a
> > third to a half in the last five years. It’s a small, high-end market,
> > less than 5% of the fig crop by weight but lucrative for those who
> > master the tricky logistics of harvesting and shipping the delicate,
> > perishable fruits.
> >
> >
> >
> > […]
> >
> > The chief problem is that the same fig wasps that pollinate the seeds,
> > giving Calimyrnas their distinctive nutty crunch, also introduce fungi
> > and smuts that spoil a high percentage of the crop. “Naturals,” large
> > perfect dried figs, are rare.
> >
> >
> >
> > A researcher at the University of California Kearney station, Jim
> > Doyle, has spent nine years trying to breed the Holy Grail of fig
> > growers: a new variety with the flavor of Calimyrna that doesn’t
> > require caprification. Judging from a recent tasting of his most
> > promising selections, he’s tantalizingly close, but complete success
> > might be out of reach: Fertilized seeds seem essential to the
> > Calimyrna’s flavor.
> >
> >
> >
> > The half-dozen leading varieties of figs are well suited to commercial
> > cultivation, but connoisseurs and collectors around the state claim
> > that some of the more unusual kinds offer far superior flavor.
> >
> >
> >
> > https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-11-fo-64820-story.html
> --
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