Ficus dammaropsis “Lowland Form”

[George Sparkman]

Ficus dammaropsis, 

“Lowland Form”

- grown outside under 50% shade cloth in Fallbrook,CA 

5gallon / $350

 

Phone : 760-666-7817

E-mail: info@cycads-n-palms.com

[Scott Cohen]

Sweeeeet!

[gilles06]

What are the differences between "lowland form" and "highland form", cold hardiness, esthetic?

[Ben in Norcal]

8 hours ago, gilles06 said:

What are the differences between "lowland form" and "highland form", cold hardiness, esthetic?

Highland form MUCH more hardy, though not sure by how much.  Highland form does great while Lowland melted for me - and we stayed above freezing all winter.

[gilles06]

Thanks Ben, it won't be easy to buy one in Europe, maybe one day...

[Ben in Norcal]

5 minutes ago, gilles06 said:

Thanks Ben, it won't be easy to buy one in Europe, maybe one day...

I would stick with the Highland form in your location...your winter lows look similar to mine, or even lower (I haven't been below 30 in at least a decade.)

[nachocarl]

3 minutes ago, Ben in Norcal said:

Highland form MUCH more hardy, though not sure by how much.  Highland form does great while Lowland melted for me - and we stayed above freezing all winter.

Interesting and good to know as I thought these were suppose to be on par with the Highland form.  I know I flirted with freezing Temps this year in many parts of my garden and saw cosmetic damage on Foxtails, B. koghiensis, Travelers palm,  and even new fronds on a A. cunninghamiana, so if I end up adding one of these it will need to be highland form.

[Matt in OC]

Aside from hardiness, what are the differences between the two forms?

[Ben in Norcal]

13 minutes ago, nachocarl said:

Interesting and good to know as I thought these were suppose to be on par with the Highland form.  I know I flirted with freezing Temps this year in many parts of my garden and saw cosmetic damage on Foxtails, B. koghiensis, Travelers palm,  and even new fronds on a A. cunninghamiana, so if I end up adding one of these it will need to be highland form.

My two forms were feet apart and one melted, while one took not a lick.  Too small of a sample size to be sure, so just my anecdotal experience!

To my eye, the Highland Form is more attractive anyway - more featured leaf I think.

[George Sparkman]

I have a good number of both versions growing under identical conditions outside in Fallbrook, CA.

We had a few fairly cold nights this winter and none of them were affected in any way. They actually constantly put out new leaves. No cold spots. Smaller Lowland plants can be a bit touchy but well rooted 5g grow very and by the time they get to 15g size they just won’t stop growing. 

A couple of things are worth mentioning : 

They need to be very well rooted !

Never let them dry out ! 

5g Lowland

 

In regards to the visual differences, the Lowland produces larger leaves and the leaf veins start out white and stay that way whereas Highland has mostly reddish leaf veins that fade to an off-white over time.

 

I am sure that Highland can take more cold but Lowland performs just as well in my zip code.

 

[Ben in Norcal]

10 minutes ago, George Sparkman said:

I have a good number of both versions growing under identical conditions outside in Fallbrook, CA.

We had a few fairly cold nights this winter and none of them were affected in any way. They actually constantly put out new leaves. No cold spots. Smaller Lowland plants can be a bit touchy but well rooted 5g grow very and by the time they get to 15g size they just won’t stop growing. 

A couple of things are worth mentioning : 

They need to be very well rooted !

Never let them dry out ! 

5g Lowland

 

In regards to the visual differences, the Lowland produces larger leaves and the leaf veins start out white and stay that way whereas Highland has mostly reddish leaf veins that fade to an off-white over time.

  

I am sure that Highland can take more cold but Lowland performs just as well in my zip code.

 

This makes sense.  A LOT colder and a LOT wetter up here!  I do think there is a considerable difference, but it's just anecdotal as I said.

[Scott Cohen]

The lowland form have a considerably larger Leaf than the highland form, and seems to out perform the highland form here is south florida. They are susceptible to drying out while in containers or if not established in the ground but once established are very tuff. As for cold, I know the big one at Montgomery was damaged in the early 2000’s but if memory serves we were in the upper 20’s and bounced right back. 

[George Sparkman]

The plant in the top photo has been sold.

Comparable others available. 

 

Phone : 760-666-7817

E-mail: info@cycads-n-palms.com

[Scott Cohen]

Not the best angle, but this leaf was 4ft in length . 

[George Sparkman]

 

A few others growing in Fallbrook,CA

[Jeff Searle]

You guys out in So-Cal should be all over these to buy!

[George Sparkman]

Thank You Jeff !

A couple more have sold and there are a few left.  All of them are great plants.

[George Sparkman]

There are a couple 5g left.

I will be posting info & photos regarding the 15g plants soon.

 

Thanks

[George Sparkman]

 

Current photo of one of the 15 gallon plants

[Palm Tree Jim]

Great plants George.

And mine has done well for me here in Southern CA. I did plant mine in the vicinity of the highland form to show the differences.

To date, it has been a strong grower for me.

 

[George Sparkman]

 

This 5g plant in on sale for $250.

[Josh-O]

they sure do grow fast

[Seb]

Hello there!

This is such a beautiful plant! I have a beautiful specimen of this plant that I bought from a shop 5 yrs ago. It looks like a lowland form of the ficus dammaropsis. But its now looking really sad... I need advice on how to revive it.

I live in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. When I bought the ficus, it was 1 meter high and had beautiful leaves. After a few weeks, It started losing some leaves from the bottom, while it kept on growing new leaves from the top. see below.

after 1 yr:

 

now after 5yrs, its almost bald, with only new leaves growing at the top, which are quite small compared to when it was new. Ive experimented with giving it plant food which helped the leaves grow a bit larger, but it didnt prevent the leaves from falling.

after 5yrs

 

 

 

[Hennyhana]

Hello! Would you happen to have any left for sale? 

[Cindy Adair]

2 hours ago, Hennyhana said:

Hello! Would you happen to have any left for sale? 

Sadly George Sparkman passed away in 2020.

[Hennyhana]

13 hours ago, Cindy Adair said:

Sadly George Sparkman passed away in 2020.

I am very sorry to hear that, thank you for letting me know. 

[Scott2533]

On 8/8/2019 at 6:44 PM, George Sparkman said:

 

This 5g plant in on sale for $250.

Are this still available 

[PALM MOD]

16 hours ago, Scott2533 said:

Are this still available 

Seller has passed away.