{"product_id":"emerald-fig-ficus-emerald","title":"Emerald Fig - Ficus Emerald","description":"\u003cp\u003eEmerald is a selection of Hill's fig, Ficus microcarpa hillii, chosen for the qualities formal planting depends on. It builds a naturally dense, rounded head of glossy, oval, deep green leaves, and its growth is neat enough that keeping a shape is routine work rather than a running battle. That is why it is so often trained as a clipped standard, a ball of foliage on a clear straight stem, and why it makes a hedge with an even, solid face from top to bottom. It grows steadily from spring to autumn and slows almost to a stop in winter. It only looks the part while someone keeps after it, though, and under the tidy head sits a full fig root system.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFrost free, and as much sun as you can give it\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant it in full sun to part shade; in sun the head stays thickest, and in heavy shade it opens up and loses the dense look you bought it for. It is frost sensitive, so it belongs on the warm coast from Queensland down through Sydney, in Perth, and against a north facing wall in the mildest parts of Adelaide and Melbourne. Inland gardens with regular frost will lose the soft new growth every winter. Most soils will do if they drain, and moderate water keeps it growing; let a newly planted hedge dry out in its first summer and you get thin patches that take a season to close. For a formal hedge, set plants roughly 700mm to a metre apart, closer if you need it to knit quickly. A matched pair of standards either side of a door or gate is the classic use, and in a big terrace pot it holds its shape for years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe roots do not shrink with the head\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA tidy, rounded head gives no hint of what is happening underneath. Emerald carries the same roots as any Hill's fig, and they spread far beyond the canopy, follow moisture into sewer and stormwater joints, heave paving and press on pool shells and retaining walls, and the damage usually shows years after planting, when the fix is expensive. In open ground, keep it several metres from pipes, paths and the house. A root barrier along a hedge line next to a path slows the problem; it does not remove it. Your council may limit fig planting near drains and footpaths, so ask before planting on a tight site. Grown in a pot, the root problem stays in the pot, so a potted standard is how to have one beside a house.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it sits among the clipped figs\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/fig-ficus-microcarpa-hillii\"\u003eFicus microcarpa hillii\u003c\/a\u003e, the plain Hill's fig, clips just as well and knits into a tall screen sooner, with looser outer growth between trims; Emerald holds a rounder, darker head for less work, which suits standards and low formal edges. For a hedge that should stay low, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/ficus-green-island-ficus-microcarpa\"\u003eFicus Green Island\u003c\/a\u003e is the dwarf, round leaved fig, slower and smaller in every part. All three are figs underneath, so if the drains on your block rule the genus out, \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/hedges\"\u003eHedging Plants\u003c\/a\u003e has formal hedges with far gentler roots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClip three or four times through the warm season, and monthly for a sharp standard or topiary shape, stopping by the end of March so the last flush hardens before the cool weather. Feed with a slow release fertiliser as growth starts in spring and top it up in January. Tight, rolled new leaves in summer are the work of leaf rolling thrips; the next trim usually takes them off, as long as the clippings go in the bin. On a standard, rub off any shoots that appear on the clear stem, and check the stake tie each spring so it does not cut into the bark. Wear gloves for every trim, since the white sap that beads on each cut irritates skin, and sweep the clippings up straight away: chewed fig leaves and sap make dogs and cats sick.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 4 sizes, from 300mm up to 100L, priced from $159.00 to $889.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/fast-growing-privacy-screen-plants-australia\"\u003efast growing screening plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67670776086897,"sku":null,"price":209.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25L","offer_id":67670776119665,"sku":null,"price":159.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"45L","offer_id":67670776152433,"sku":null,"price":259.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":67670776185201,"sku":null,"price":889.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/emerald-fig-ficus-emerald.jpg?v=1791515610","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/emerald-fig-ficus-emerald","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}