I'm surprised by the three respondents saying that fig trees have no
scent - perhaps not everyone can smell it because to me they do have a
scent which can be quite strong, particularly on hot days. It's a
warm, pleasant, musky type smell which to me is very evocative of the
mediterranean, as - due I suppose to the heat - fig trees there seem
to be particularly strongly scented. We have several small fig trees
growing in the garden and my wife goes out of her way to sniff the
leaves because her family home has some large fig trees and the scent
brings back happy summer childhood memories.
Suppose it all depends on taste, but personally I'd be happy to have a
figgy scent drifting in through the bedroom window. I expect you've
been noticing it because of the recent hot weather - is it on a south
facing wall, which bakes the fig leaves and encourages them to give
off scent? Come the cooler weather I expect the smell will entirely
disappear. Ask your neighbout to give you a few ripe figs next year
and maybe you'll forgive the tree - they're delicious.
Robert
----------
In article , "Tony"
wrote:
Hi
I have just moved in to a new house & my neighbour informs me that the tree
growing up the front of her house & part of mine, is a fig. I have thought
for a number of weeks that a tomcat was spraying at the front of the house.
I have now cleared all of the overgrown grass & removed the first couple of
inches of soil & replaced it. The smell still persists. The smell is very
strong. It can be smelled in the upstairs bedroom just as strong as
downstairs (so I do not think it is a cat).
Can you tell me if a fig tree smells & what I can do about it?
The tree is almost to gutter height (abt 15 feet) & has deeply lobed dark
green leaves (each with 5 'fingers'). When a leaf is broken off a white sap
(like a dandelion) oozes out.
Many thanks.
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