a fiddle leaf fig tree

In pretty much every room I’ve ever loved, there is some element of natural greenery – often in the form of the handsomely quirky fiddle leaf fig – that brings the whole thing together. There is just something about the organic shapes and punch of color that a living tree can bring to a room that keeps it fresh and classic. I’ve been looking for a healthy, tall fiddle leaf fig for months and finally came across one at my grocery store {of all places!}.

It is not huge, but larger than the bitsy ones I had seen at IKEA, the leaves looked bright and free of dark spots, and even though I know these plants are a bit temperamental and tend to die easily, at just $12 I couldn’t resist.

It fit perfectly in this sturdy basket from Target {with a saucer inside to catch drips}.  Fiddle leaf figs are particular about sunlight {indirect}, temperature {consistent 60-80 degrees}, watering {only when top 1″ of soil is dry – about every 2 weeks} and they don’t like to move. I couldn’t decide where to put this little guy, but ultimately decided on the entry because it probably gets the best indirect light and the temperature remains pretty consistent. Plus, it looks good next to the deconstructed chair that I was going to refinish but ended up liking in it’s deconstructed form too much to continue.

I like the look of the tall tree versions better than the full-and-leafy-look, so I risked my new plant’s life and pruned off the bottom leaves.

I don’t know if this is how to train a tree to become less-bushy, but for $12, I figured I couldn’t lose.

After trimming off the bottom leaves, it looks much more refined. 

I do hope I can keep this one alive!

While snapping photos, Audrey wanted in on the action so she hopped in to have her picture taken with Fig.

She is so much fun. Silly and sweet and always happy to be in front of the camera.