With the advent of blogging and pinterest as we know them, I feel like I get these crazy strong obsessions that just have to be satisfied. This happened quite recently for me with fiddle leaf fig trees.  I was seeing them everywhere--like every other person in the world knew of their magnificence and one day my eyes just awakened to their presence.  So of course, a few days go by of looking at images like this:

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And this:

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...and well, I knew that my life would not be complete without one.  Such is the nature of obsession.  A quick google search proved to me that actually buying fiddle leaf fig trees posed some problems.  Trees were priced at several hundred dollars on the sites I visited.  My obsession began deflating -- I wanted a tree but not if I had to give up shopping for several months.  Then I read that you can purchase these plants while they are small for relatively cheap at stores like IKEA or Home Depot.  So yes, I went to the hardware store with this sole intention in mind.

I wasn't in the garden section of Home Depot very long before I realized that reports of their selling fiddle leaf fig trees may be mythical.  At least in North Carolina.  After circling all available indoor tropical plant varieties for a good 20 minutes without finding some perfect fig tree squirreled away in a hidden corner, I convinced myself that I must have found one, Home Depot just didn't tag them specifically with their name.  Yes, the only tag on my plant to indicate its species was a price tag labelled "tropical plant."  It was 4 feet tall already, and a healthy $15.  Sold.

I was so smugly happy with my purchase, that I avoided the sinking feeling that my plant probably should have said "fiddle leaf fig" somewhere on the tag.  I still don't know what plant I bought, but as you can see, there are some obvious signs that I did not get the right one, haha.

A Real Fiddle Leaf Fig:

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 My "tropical plant" knock off:


Looking back now, I should have noticed some obvious differences at the store, but I just wasn't leaving Home Depot without a plant, and I like to think I achieved a similar effect.  I have thought about trimming the bottom foot or so of the plant free of leaves so it looks less like a giant green feather duster.  Thoughts and opinions on this pruning would be appreciated!

Even though I don't have a real fig tree, I did find that I really like my plant, so I guess everything is right in the universe.  My fig tree obsession is momentarily sated due to this end result:

The Final Product

So in summary, if you want a very inexpensive fiddle leaf fig knock-off, just head to Lowes or Home Depot and get the tall one called "tropical plant."  For $15 you can re-pot and have a very hearty and quick growing "tree" of your own!