Ficus Elastica - Any outdoors in Bay Area, CA?

[BayAndroid]

Does anyone have or know of Rubber Trees growing outdoors in the Bay Area? I've actually seen one at the toll plaza of the San Mateo Bridge and I saw one in the front yard of a residence in Redwood City. But they look like cases of indoor plants that were just put outside and ended up doing well. I'm hoping to see an "enthusiast's tree" =) 

Maybe there aren't any and I'll have to be the first to give it a go. Let's see! 

[Jim in Los Altos]

I had one in my front yard that got HUGE and thus needed to be taken down as it was choking out everything in that area. There was one in Sunnyvale on El Camino Real that was about 40 years old or more and the size of a large live oak. 
 

I may plant one again in another area of my yard. 

[Silas_Sancona]

21 minutes ago, BayAndroid said:

Does anyone have or know of Rubber Trees growing outdoors in the Bay Area? I've actually seen one at the toll plaza of the San Mateo Bridge and I saw one in the front yard of a residence in Redwood City. But they look like cases of indoor plants that were just put outside and ended up doing well. I'm hoping to see an "enthusiast's tree" =) 

Maybe there aren't any and I'll have to be the first to give it a go. Let's see! 

Have heard of a few older specimens  around San Jose, -and likely passed a few smaller ones planted in yards in some of the neighborhoods i grew up in there-  Been awhile so couldn't tell you if they're still around. though. Always found it odd that there are at least a couple impressive specimens here in the Desert, of all places. 

[BayAndroid]

9 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

I had one in my front yard that got HUGE and thus needed to be taken down as it was choking out everything in that area. There was one in Sunnyvale on El Camino Real that was about 40 years old or more and the size of a large live oak. 
 

I may plant one again in another area of my yard. 

That's awesome, did you take any pictures of it before you took it out? 

 

8 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Have heard of a few older specimens  around San Jose, -and likely passed a few smaller ones planted in yards in some of the neighborhoods i grew up in there-  Been awhile so couldn't tell you if they're still around. though. Always found it odd that there are at least a couple impressive specimens here in the Desert, of all places. 

They're described as being tender tropical foliage online, but it seems like they're actually pretty resilient. 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, BayAndroid said:

That's awesome, did you take any pictures of it before you took it out? 

 

They're described as being tender tropical foliage online, but it seems like they're actually pretty resilient. 

Agree, good %' age of Ficus are tougher than many sources give them credit for..  Have a neighbor around the corner from me w/ a couple small Ficus benjamina in their yard. House w/ a couple nice religiosa in planters nearby also. F. nitida are planted everywhere here ..many huge ones around the valley. 

Only seen one benjamina, grown in a large pot  ..somewhat protected from the elements back in San Jo.

Two rare sp. i'm hoping to get my hands on are our regionally native F. cotinifolia, and F. trigonata from a coupe hundred miles south in S. Sonora. Heat tolerance should be pretty good w/ either.. Would be shocked if cold tolerance isn't at least decent ( established specimens able to tolerate occasional, brief dips into 9b temp. range ).

[JasonD]

There are a lot of Ficus elastica in San Francisco. They don't need heat to thrive, and of course they hardly get any frost here. Some are surprisingly large (25' x 30') and old.
There are also some Ficus macrophylla around SF,  but they get giant, certainly by the standards of SF trees. Much bigger than F. elastica.

[BayAndroid]

4 hours ago, JasonD said:

There are a lot of Ficus elastica in San Francisco. They don't need heat to thrive, and of course they hardly get any frost here. Some are surprisingly large (25' x 30') and old.
There are also some Ficus macrophylla around SF,  but they get giant, certainly by the standards of SF trees. Much bigger than F. elastica.

I'll have to go check some out, thanks!