Here’s an unusual tree , you might remember it

Check this out!

Uhhhh….what in da hell?!
Those are itty bitty figs.
I’ve written about this tree before in this post. It’s a ficus triangularis.
I know what you’re thinking.
I have a defoliation fetish but no, this time, I did not defoliate it, it defoliated itself.
Maybe it knew I was coming for it?
I actually think it got dry.
You see, it’s been a hot August and, as I write this, it’s been about seven days since it’s rained and the average temps have been around 95 Fahrenheit; a very unusual occurrence in Florida, in the summertime. It usually rains every afternoon and it doesn’t get above 90, mostly. (Sorry, I must scratch my tangential bone….doesn’t 90F just sound hotter than 32C? Or better yet, 100 degrees Fahrenheit sounds hotter than 37 Celsius. With those two observations, I hereby propose we use Fahrenheit for hot air temperature but…but Celsius for cold air temperature, what do you think? Zero Celsius sounds colder than 32F definitely. And I can’t even tell you what temp water boils at in Fahrenheit. Anyone out there know without googling it?)
The reason for the dry spell is a tropical depression called Cristobal passing by the state that’s sucking the moisture out of the atmosphere. And my trees are suffering for it.
Anyway, I probably put the tree in a too small pot in the last potting and with all the heat, I stressed it out a bit.

Sometimes a tree will respond to stress by trying to further the species (oh no! I’m dying, I better reproduce!) and put out flowers and fruit like mad.
Or, which is possible I guess, this kind of fig drops it’s leaves when it flowers and fruits (which is kinda the same thing with figs.) if you remember your biology, flowers depend upon bees or moths or, in the case of ficus, wasps, to be pollinators and make a flower into a fruit (I’m reminded of that Grease 2 song Reproduction. Go ahead click on it).
Whichever way that it happened, I have a tree with just two leaves left.

Whoops, not anymore!
There are new buds breaking on the tree, so I don’t think I’ve killed it.

Yet.
I had said that I under-potted the poor tree.

What do you think?

There’s not much there. Like a pancake.
It is a pretty pot though. It might end up in that pot if I show the tree in an exhibit but I’m thinking I need some room right now.

Kinda Romanesque or Greek even.
The new pot I’ve dug out of my wall-o-pots will give the roots someplace to grow and maybe limit the excess drying (and too much water) that a very shallow pot provides.

Not the best choice, but adequate for my needs until I can find a new or better one.
I kinda like the octagon shape, it has pointy corners that might go well with the triangular leaves.
I can’t really tell, since the tree is totally leafless but….. I can imagine…
Let’s see if I have the skills-to-pay-the-bills and wire it without disturbing the fruit.

Aha! I’m a clever lad. Call me! I have bonsai, will travel. I’ll even give a demo at weddings or bachelorette parties.
Here’s the tree when we saw it last, in the above linked post (you’ll have to click on it now, won’t you?)

And here it is before wiring today.

And now, I give you, ficus triangularis, naked but showing the world it’s dangly fruit.
Tadaa!

Wait, that’s not dramatic enough.
How’s this?

Cool, man….daddio!
It is developing nicely, give it a few years and it will be a show stopper.
Hope it grows leaves soon, that would be nice, I think.
Adios, mein freunds, ciao and aloha!