The Fig Tree

I see symbolism everywhere.  It's all around me it seems, and it helps me figure out what to do.

I have a fig tree in the front yard that I carefully brought with us from Texas in 2011.  It lived in a little pot outside our back door for the longest time. 

I bought the tree in Texas when we lived in a rental house and I put it in a pot because I wanted to plant it somewhere that it could take root, where we would stay, where it would be at home.  

When we bought our house in NC, it was not a property that was high on my wish list.  But it had a good amount of land with it, it was in a convenient location, and it was in our price range.  So, we made a logical choice, weighed the pros and cons and bought it.  I waited a few years to plant the fig tree.

It amazed me that the tree stayed alive in the pot after all those years and a fair amount of neglect.  Overwatering, underwatering and no added fertilizer that I can recall. But the tree is a trooper I suppose and when I planted it in the front yard, near the front door, I felt a fair amount of hope.  The tree could finally put down roots.  The tree was finally home.

Time has passed and there have been good years and bad years for the tree.  She has given us much fruit, many figs throughout the years.  But last year, during the cold winter, something happened and this spring, much of the fig tree is dead.

The Mostly Dead Fig Tree

From the branches that the tree put out, there are 4 or 5 places where the wood has rooted in the ground and formed new trees, fresh new growth, like a little tree for each one of our children.  But the central trunk of the tree is gone, it's dead and there are only a few little leaves of new growth trying to make a comeback, trying to stay alive.  But it will not produce fruit.  Not this year anyway.  Maybe the branches will, but not that trunk.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with the tree.  Should I dig it up and try to move it? Should I just rip it up and call it done?  Should I keep it where it is and see if it makes a comeback?  

The branches definitely need to be repotted and allowed to grow and be planted in their new places, in their new homes.  And the central trunk?  Well, in my experience, now it seems that a fig tree by the front door is not really a good idea.  Maybe it doesn't have to be destroyed, but it can't live where it is.  The roots it put down, no longer belong there.  It's time to find it a new home as well.  

But it's a hardy tree.  A real trooper, so I am sure it will do just fine.  Wherever it ends up being re-planted.  And for now, I will decorate it and try to make it look pretty with some birdhouses or something.  But when fall comes, it's getting a new home.