When we began the process of redesigning our home, my amazing friend and interior designer Annie, placed a Fiddle-Leaf Fig Tree in our living room idea board. While it was just a suggestion, I was beyond thrilled. It was love at first sight!
For those unfamiliar, Fiddle-Leaf Fig Trees are gorgeous tropical green plants that can grow to be about six feet tall indoors. They are well known for their structural clusters of large rounded leaves that resemble a fiddle.
Fiddle-Leaf Figs are known to be finicky and need to be handled carefully when it comes to balancing moisture allowance, preventing exposure to drafts and providing adequate sunlight if one has hopes of them thriving indoors. In my research of this species, I’ve come across many sad tales of fiddle-leaf fig tree lives cut short, even after much effort on the owner’s behalf.
The past two years I’ve done the best I can to take great care of my Fiddle Fig. I had every hope that it would grace our living room with its green oxygen producing leaves for many years to come. As the plants dedicated caregiver, I find myself rotating it ever so often to better distribute sunlight, and dusting the accumulated bunnies until its leaves are shiny again. I even had a nightmare about it dying while we were out of town on our summer vacation.
Every few weeks I check its soil for moisture content and adjust my watering accordingly. I keep the tree right in front of our living room window so it can soak up all the rays from sun up to sun down. Its leaves have stayed lush and vibrant, and while we’ve lost a few over time, we’ve also witnessed tiny shoots of new growth, evidence of sweet success when it comes to this plant that many have given up on.
That was until a few months ago when I decided to relocate the tree for better visual stimulus. You see, there’s this empty spot, right next to the piles of underused toys just behind our couch, and it’s only a foot away from the window. So one day I decided to try it out, and I was immediately impressed by how it looked in its new spot. It was perfect, picture perfect and I’m pretty sure I brought it up to my husband a few times just to bask in the glory of my idea.
I continued enjoying the enhanced scenery until a week later when the first leaf fell. This wasn’t the first time a leaf had fallen, so I didn’t think too much of it as I tossed it in the trash and went about my day. But then another leaf fell a couple days later, and a few more the following week. I had never seen it lose so many leaves in a short amount of time. My once lush and vibrant tree was becoming thinner by the day and I was concerned at the direction it was headed.
“But it is so pretty in that spot”, I thought to myself, and it was still getting some light from the window. Why was this seemingly minor move causing it to lose its leaves? It soon became obvious that I would have to make a call. Keep the beloved plant in the more visual appealing area and risk potentially losing it to a slow and unsightly death, or return it to its happy place by the window and hope it recovers.
I chose the latter, and within a week, the shedding of leaves ceased and all was normal and happy with my little Fiddle-Leaf Fig plant. This experience helped me realize that this plant’s need to be placed in the highest amount of sunlight proved paramount to its survival and quality of life. While it looked a bit better just a short distance away, it took a toll that would probably have resulted in its death and the loss of the beauty and nutrients it provided in our home altogether. The move, the look, the risk, it just wasn’t worth it in the end.
Whitney says
Isn’t that just how it is with us? We might think we “look good” in a certain place in life-but it is slowly killing us. We have to “move” to a new place to reach our potential.
Missy says
Totally agree:) Thanks for your comment!
Kari says
Beautiful:) I just acquired a snake plant and a Christmas cactus from my mother-in-law when she moved and couldn’t take them with her, but I am horrible with houseplants! Hoping that I don’t kill them!
Missy says
I have never heard of those types of plants, they sound fascinating! Plant care can be intimidating for sure!