For this plant to reach full size it needs a sunny location with rich moist soil but it has done extremely well in our garden for over 30 years growing as a large dense shrub in a shady understory. In this location it has made and excellent tall screen in a location that gets infrequent irrigation. It is perfectly hardy to short term temperatures to 30° F without damage the and as understory plant in our garden survived the Christmas 1990 freeze (with brief temperature as low as 18° F) and suffered no damage in the January 2007 freeze with three nights in a row down to 25° F.

Ficus microcarpa is native to mountains and plains below 6.200 feet throughout China, Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Northern Australia. The genus name Ficus comes from the ancient Latin name for figs and their edible fruit and the specific epithet means "small fruit". In the past we grew this tree as Ficus benjamina 'Variegata', offering it under this name from 1983 until 1999, though as we brought it back into production we noted it more closely matches up to the similar Ficus microcarpa that has narrower and thicker elliptic leaves with as short leaf tip and non-pendulous habit. Over the years this plant has also sometimes been sold as Ficus benjamina 'Samantha' and Ficus benjamina 'Hawaii'. 

This information about Ficus microcarpa 'Hawaii' displayed on this web page is based on research we have conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations we have made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how our crops have performed in containers in the nursery field. Where appropriate, we will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.