Fiddle-leaf Ficus
These days, a stylish room isn’t complete without the houseplant of the moment. Ficus lyrata (also known as fiddle-leaf ficus or fiddle-headed fig), a midsize tree (they can grow 50 feet high in the wild and can easily top 6 feet in an interior) with large, violin- shaped leaves is enjoying a design moment.
Mary Gray, owner of Potted in Los Angeles, traces the popularity of the fiddle-leaf ficus back to the 1950s and ’60s, when the specimens were ubiquitous in office design.
Davis Dalbok, owner of Living Green in San Francisco, gets lots of requests for the tree, but he advises buyers to plant with caution. “They need a lot of water and light, ” he says. “If you don’t rotate them, the leaves in the back fall off. They’re kind of finicky plants.” That said, Dalbok thinks the beauty of the fiddle-leaf ficus has proven it’s roots have staying power.
As seen in California Home+Design magazine, May/June issue.
