Hello guys,

I am on a business trip this and next week in London. I am definitely taking cuttings from the fig tree in Amwell stree and one fig tree on Euston street with pretty bbig figs on it already (I'll try to attach picture below). Any tips for fig trees with interesting figs I could take cuttings from? All suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

Lubos  

Hi Lubos, the ones i'm aware of are below :-)

1) In the grounds of Borough Church "St George the Martyr" next to the railings (behind the phone box), this tree used to be huge but they keep hacking it back, which only seems to encourage it. Leave looks a bit like Dalmatie? there are bits to take cuttings from still.
 Borough High St, London SE1 1JA
 

2) Byng place, outside the big church next to the phone boxes. No idea of variety.
Byng Pl Bloomsbury, London WC1E
 

3) Euston Station fig trees, there are a couple large standards, on the right side railings to the road entrance, I took cuttings of these, might be Osbourns prolific?
 

4) Hyde park marked on map, past public toilet opposite bench on "flower walk"
 
 

5) Queen Square, London WC1N, at the north end there is a huge old fig tree
 

6) smithfield, huge old old tree in the south side of the round garden at the center of smithfield car park (W Smithfield, London EC1A 9DY)
 

7) Outside the national gallery (north of trafalgar sq.) there is loads of small trees, there are two varieties as i've been there in summer and they have very different shaped leaves
 


8) At St James park, at the north end of the bridge crossing the lake, big old tree
 

9) Chelsea Bridge tree, apparently a unique seedling which is sold commercially. I went there during a lunchbreak on a cutting mission but there was a small locked gate, prob ok to jump over and take some cuttings if you're feeling athletic ;-) Its on the embankment area accessable from the roadside on the A3212, leads down a little path to the tree, I dont know the precise location)
 

10) A communal garden has many fig trees growing round the west and south edge, nelson square SE1
 

You can check them out on google maps to plan which ones look best, Happy cutting! :-)

Steve

Thanks for this post. I am sure the OP will be pleased but this is really useful for all UK figgers close to London. I live on the outskirts of London and wanted to go on a hunt for cuttings but did not know where to look. I have actually bought the 'Chelsea fig', might get a cutting and see if it really is identical to the one by the Thames.

ukfigsteve: Thanks a lot! I will go check them all out during this weekend. Also thank you for the effort. Seems that you actually took some screnshots from google maps purely because of this post.

You can also use some websites whilst you are out and about to see what others have found:

https://fallingfruit.org Is good for London(thousands of edible plants,including lots of figs)

haslamhulme: also thank you.

Btw the fig from Euston Road I took a picture of above is here:
   
Also I am planning to take cuttings from the Amwell fig that has from some pictures I saw yellow average sized figs here:
   

Today while walking I found also some fruit bearing figs here:
51°31'03.1"N 0°06'24.4"W
51°30'60.0"N 0°05'54.5"W
Unfortunately don't know what kind of fig types these are. Took cuttings from them, so I am quite curious..

While visiting London in March we visited Westminster Abbey (I was awe struck by its beauty). Outside the church in the garden I came across an enormous fig tree. The garden in Westminster Abbey is also known as "England's Oldest Garden".  Here is a pic of the fig tree. I think it may be possibly hundreds of years old and the most famous fig tree in England.

Nice Photo of the tree in westminster gardens, i didn't know about that one, just trying to gauge the height of the lowest branches, they look just reachable for cuttings to be taken :-) 

Whenever I take cuttings where maybe it might not be polite to do so, i've found doing it in the rain is very useful as a large umbrella offers excellent concealment for when cuttings are taken :-)

Ah, The old umbrella to get cuttings trick :-) that's a good one!
Maybe you can attach a saw to the top of your umbrella and get a cutting?
In all seriousness the branches were up there pretty high, and seeing that it was in a sacred garden I did not even want to try, however...I got lucky and found a cutting on the ground and we shall see if it grows.