All Ficus spp. produce fruit although only a small handful are edible. I have a huge F. elastica "Decora" - around 25' tall - that has never had a noticeable flower or fruit. But it does drop leaves all the time!

Only the "warmest" parts of 9b. I live in a 9a equivalent zone and they get wacked almost to the ground each winter. The subequent stub is grown into a bush during the summer. PF

There are lots of ficus elasticas growing in Kissimee which is considered zone 9b and several of them are large and undamaged each winter. I think they are hardier than given credit for.

Plant material varies widely within species insofar as cold-hardiness is concerned and is genetically determined rather than species dependant. Two plants of same species, even cultivar, growing side by side could show response to cold as varied as one plant exhibiting damage at temperatures in the mid-40s while the other might appear seemingly indifferent to temperatures at or just below freezing.

In vegetatively propagated material, the cold-hardiness potential programmed into a plant is constant and the same as that of the plant from which it was propagated.

Al

I live in an equivalent USDA hardiness zone 9a (with 9b microclimates in the inner city). Even in the "warmest" locations plants outside are repeatedly burned down to near the ground here each year. To wit, you are left with bushes, not trees that spend much of the early summer just recovering. So yes, you can get a bush in zone 9, but not a tree.

Perhaps you missed the point; that being that genetics plays the major role in determining hardiness within species. It's possible that there are plants that are hardy in your area that you are unaware of. E.g. Ulmus parvifolia and Ficus carica are plants that in the case of the former are found growing in areas from the equator to zone 4, and F. carica, with some protection is known to grow from the equator to zone 5. You cannot, however, take plants that show good vigor in situ near the equator and move them to the northern latitudes where their counterparts are perfectly happy and expect them to survive the change in provenance.

My intent wasn't to say whether Ficus e. was or wasn't hardy in a particular area, only that it's not the zone that determines hardiness, but the genetics of the plant material. Zonal considerations are a reasonable guideline, but guideline is about as good as it gets. ;o)

Take care.

Al

I have planted a ficus elastica I bought at walmart. It said it was "burgandy". I see some large examples in my neighboorhood in pinellas county. I am wondering how fast they will grow. I have read about root problems with ficus trees will the roots affect my driveway or house?