On the way back from picking up a couple of free fig trees from a craigslist ad, I convinced my wife to take an alternative route so I could do my normal fig tree scouting (she drives, I scan). As we rounded a bend in an older subdivision, out of the corner of my eye (tucked halfway back in a vacant lot and almost out of sight for the direction we were going) I spotted a beautiful sight... I swear I could hear angels singing... it was a fig tree. And not some run-of-the-mill scraggly bush type of fig tree; this was a Paul Bunyan-sized fig tree that commanded attention. Naturally, I blurted out to my wife to STOP THE CAR NOW and then BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP!!! (Which she did without question) Since I make her carry pruning shears in her car for such an occasion, I grabbed them and quickly went to work, not paying any attention to my wife telling me that the local residents were starting to stare. I reassured her that nobody would care since it's a vacant, unkempt lot... then I posed next to the tree while she took the picture (did I mention I have a great wife??!!). I took a cutting and grabbed some of the ripe fruit and took off before the police showed up (just kidding). As we were leaving I spoke with the resident who lived next door to see if they had any info on the tree. All she knew about it was that it was over 100 years old; I think it's a Mission, but since I'm a novice I think everything's a Mission :)
Here she is in all her beauty!!!
