May 223 min read

Living Sculpture

In my post Indoor Plants 101, I talk about decorating with plants - my favorite accessory. I didn't touch on large houseplants, however. The ones that make a real statement in a room. The king of large house plants is the fiddle leaf fig. It’s been all over the interior design world for years and for a good reason. They are famously beautiful. But be forewarned, they are also notoriously difficult. If you bring one into your home join a support group now. A good one is a private group on Facebook called The Fiddle Leaf Fig Resource Group. Here's the story about my fiddle leaf fig.

I got the plant back in 2014 in DC when it was only about 4 feet tall and in a 12-inch pot. I wanted something to complement the Balinese daybed in my living room. The window in that room is south-facing and gets bright indirect light which is the fiddle leaf fig's favorite condition. At some point, I was rearranging things and I moved it to the other side of the daybed. This was before I got the sconce that I talk about in my post Repeating Patterns. After a few months I noticed that the leaves at the bottom of the plant started turning yellow. I didn't know what was wrong with it. Was I overwatering? Underwatering? Did it need fertilizer? Then the leaves started dropping off.

That's when I went looking for a support group. What I learned is that moving these plants away from the window is a big no-no. Apparently when stressed they emit some sort of hormone that makes them slowly drop all their leaves. Once that hormone gets released the process is irreversible. I couldn't believe a plant could be so dramatic, so I moved it back to the window and hoped the group was wrong.

Over the next few years, the leaves continued to yellow and drop off one by one. It got to the point that it no longer looked like a fiddle leaf fig. It was just bare stalks at the bottom with a few leaves at the top. I decided to give up on it one summer and took it outside and hacked it down to a stump with a machete. In the meantime, I took a couple of clippings to re-root and salvage what I could. I left the pot outside and forgot about it.

The yellowing leaf phase.

Rooting clippings

When I went outside a few weeks later I saw that new growth was coming out from the stump. I was pleasantly surprised, so I moved it back into my living room at the end of the summer. (Note that while these plants love being outside, they sunburn easily so be sure to keep them in shade).

Stump phase with new growth beginning. Also a plug for never changing your phone so you have photos easily accessible from 4 years ago.

Meanwhile, in the dining room I had a big bamboo plant that I inherited from my mother. A few years ago, it got mealybug which doesn't cause acute sickness but can cause a slow demise. I did everything you are supposed to do. Even taking the whole thing outside one summer, laying it on the concrete and scrubbing it down with soapy water and bathing it with neem oil. Months later I noticed that it didn't work and even the new growth was covered with mealybug. Then the bugs started jumping to neighboring plants. That was the breaking point, so I took it outside in the dead of winter and let nature take its course.

Dining room corner with the bamboo.

Last Spring, I moved the fiddle leaf fig to the dining room. I needed it there for professional photos and for my friend's yoga video filming. That corner gets a little more sun and has higher ceilings. The fig loved it, but a couple of months ago I moved it back to the living room where it belongs.

FLF looking fab in the dining room

Now there's a big blank spot in the dining room. I've been trolling the nurseries for other large houseplants to fill the space. Maybe a white bird of paradise, an umbrella plant, or a fan palm? Should I get a banana plant? Or maybe I'll move the fiddle leaf fig back into the dining room and get an orange bird of paradise for the living room? Let's see.