My neighbor worried that my fig tree was giving up. There were several reasons: I cut her back so she doesn’t have to work so hard while Californians ration water. She lost the shade to which she was accustomed when the large companion tree that sheltered her was trimmed. As a reluctant gardener, my plants fend for themselves. I am not heartless, instead I am desperate to help conserve our water supply, so I wait and watch wondering what grows here naturally, and hoping some of it will be good to eat.
Who will survive the new, harsher conditions?
My Black Mission fig leafed earliest. The first inflorescences began to bud late this Spring.
What makes her so successful?
Figs have fed hominids and others throughout history. Uniquely adapted for harsh conditions, it grows where other plants fail. Technically, that which we call a fruit is actually an enclosed collection of flowers. Stem growth forms a bulb within which this cluster of flowers develops. Each blossom is destined to become a single, tiny drupelet. Encased within a protective womb, they do not need to fight heat or dry conditions. Some species, forming both male and female flowers, do not need assisted pollination. Others invite a miniscule female wasp into their chambers to spread pollen while she lays her eggs. These flowers then grow into a cluster of drupes, all encased within their pristine environment. (No worries, the babies escape before we eat the figs.)
This year, a few flowers ripened early, oh so sweet. I await the others. My fig thrives in this hot, dry climate and can live a century. Planted during my lifetime, she will be my companion as long as I am here.
On Monday July 17th, Shari, one of the members of the writing group to which I belong, threw us this prompt: fig leaf. A short ten minutes later, we had the following offerings. I am thrilled to present my writing sisters and their responses to her prompt.
Fig Leaf – Shari Anderson
When I was a young child, my father planted a grapevine and a fig tree in our backyard. It was
biblical
“Every man under his vine and his fig tree”
inspired.
I don’t remember the grapes –
maybe they never fruited, but the figs were juicy and delicious. The leaves of that tree were
wonderful,
unusually shaped with lots of rounded edges, sensual, with female curves.
Why a man, under his fig tree? Why not a woman? Why not just the fig tree itself, shapely,
verdant, simply divine?!
But, my favorite backyard plant was a wild cherry bush, which we used as a hideout, gorging ourselves with fruit while fighting off attacking pirates.
Fig Leaf – Dianne McCleery
The other day, I had to duck under fig leaves to reach Valarie’s front door. And I loved it. I love the hugeness of fig leaves. I love their shape. And, of course, I love to eat figs, especially since they are really flowers, not fruit. I’ve always appreciated adding pansies or nasturtiums to salads, but their tastes are “eh,” not like the deep deliciousness of figs. Yes, I am a fan.
Fig Leaf – Joyce Campbell
The fig leaf reminds me of an outstretched hand
Welcoming and offering a space to land.
Winged beings pause there, some large and some small,
And those with vibrations I can’t see at all.
Hidden below in the cool of the shade
Sprout tiny green nuggets, a prize for their fame.
Soon to be wrinkled and golden with age,
Dried to perfection a treat with no shame.
Fig Leaf – Anne Jeffries
As far as I’m concerned,
Eve’s “transgression” freed humanity
From an unconscious tunnel of an existence.
Imagine Utopia:
Yours different than mine, I suppose
But however that flowered garden is laid out before you
Without the snake
Slithering it’s SINewy offerings
There is no Will
No humanness at all:
Our choices and failings, our triumphs and joys, our sufferings and lessons.
Eve took us, perhaps out of our pure animal nature.
She gave way for the fig leaf of shame
To eventually free us from innocence
Fig Leaf – Amel Tafsout
Covered with a gentle morning frost.
Stretching your fingers to many directions
The lines of your open palm
Go back to the beginning of creation.
Your soft green color soothes the sight
Attached to the blessed tree.
You share shade generously.
You hold your sweet biblical fruit with care.
Then leave with the wind.
Blowing to a new world
Moving with lightness
Dancing your way freely
Ending on Adam’s private part
Covering up Humankind
Living in the complexity of reality.
Afternoon Delight – Barbara S Thompson
Do you remember the scene from
A Woman In Love
When the meal slowly unfolds
at the garden table
like luscious lovemaking?
As guests
caress and stroke
kiss and swallow plump red grapes,
black olives and
cheeses, soft and hard.
In slow, sultry nibbles.
Alan Bates leans back in his chair
with heavy lidded eyes
preparing to explain
the proper way to eat a fig,
It is an English garden after all.
When Eleanor Bron selects a smallish fig
piercing it’s base with one long, elegant finger
splitting it open to reveal the pale purple fruit within
Heavy with seed and fragrance
Slowly she opens her mouth
biting into the flesh
her soft moan echoing around the table.
Fig Tales – Betsy Rich Gilon
Ancient one, your leaves flutter,
The desert wind murmurs,
Camels leave footprints.
Would I have felt
The stories you tell,
Had I bitten into your flesh
Fig Leaf – Symbol of Shame? – AV Singer
Protection from sun
Invitation to hunt
hidden treasures,
Oh, fig leaf,
Why you?
∞
Fingers of mercy
on palm so large,
how long
must you
hide me?
∞
Figs ripen
hidden behind
green curtain.
Why is this
forbidden?
Please connect in the comments, or by clicking on the Like button. For more information about figs, follow these sources:
Sources:
https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/42/5/article-p1083.xml
https://www.thespruceeats.com/history-of-figs-1807598
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