RIP Ficus Tree

...
Yes, it appears the Great Freeze of 2010 killed the ficus tree.

To everything...turn turn turn
There is a season...turn turn turn

I came home from work at Apartment Finders in 1985 and in the hallway, outside the door of Tom and my first apartment (in Timbercreek on S. First Street) was a nice ficus tree, about 4' tall, with a woven trunk. It was a gift from my cousin Marshall.

It more than doubled in size before we moved from that apartment in 1987. In the condo on Manchaca, it grew to where it had to be tied back, even though it had semi-annual trimmings. It topped out at about 20 feet tall. (We had 1980s tall ceilings in our unit.) In 97, when we moved to the house on Bradwood, we tried to give it away, but no one could use it. We snuck it on the movers at the last minute and told them not to worry if they hurt it. It was a little shocked and bent over and out of balance in our front yard, (but weren't we all?) as we figured what to do with it.

Finally, I told Tom I was going to just cut it to fit in the 8' ceiling of the sunroom. We did. It thrived. All that root structure pushed it to extreme thickness. It was great! Until it got aphids. And it stopped growing above the window line for lack of light. It was too heavy to take in and out--though Tom and I did one more time.

About a year after Tom died, it was more than one person could handle (as is much of homeownership--thus the renting these days...oh, and that dramaturgo pobre thing--see posting below on leftovers.) Stephen Walls, my neighbor at the time, helped me move it outside for the last time. We rolled it by the base of the pot all the way around to the back yard, which given the size of it's pot and the bulk of the tree wasn't necessarily an easy thing. (Yes, it was the 4th pot, we'd re-potted it into. Can you say food-court-at-the-mall size pot?)

Over there on B'wood, it survived ice storms and such because I'd tack a plastic tarp to the second story of the house, which I would drape over the window (which was beneficial both ways because that window at the top of the stairs leaked A LOT of air) and down over the ficus and the other sensitive outdoor types. (Including an ugly grapefruit tree that Tom grew from a seed, which appears to have survived the freeze of 2010. Go figure.)

When I moved to The G, I decided to not let it be a burden any more and do a light amount to take care of it during the winter. I wrapped as high as I could get with a tarp and a folding ladder and s-hooks. I put old-fashioned Christmas lights on it to help cut the chill. And for 3 winters that worked famously. Sure a little bit would freeze off--the part in the wind or that was taller than the eaves... But this year, in the sustained hard freeze that hit the low teens, it wasn't meant to be.

Oh well.

Twenty-five years was a nice run for the ficus. Thanks Marshall. Thanks ficus. Thanks Tom. Thanks Stephen.

turn, turn, turn.

A toast to the ficus: cheers!
,m