Ficus religiosa - Bo Fig or Sacred Fig

is leaf drop common to all figs? I know the benjamina drop leaves if stressed... How is it sacred, Andy?

Ficus religiosa is the tree in which Buddha, while sitting under, found enlightenment...so the story goes.

Some evergreen figs will loose many of their leaves every 3 to 4 years. I'm not sure why they do this...may it's just a cycle?

I saw this extremely large Ficus elastica 'Decora' (maybe 75 ft or 23 m tall) loose most of its leaves back in spring and then the new leaves grow right back. I see this very large, upright tree every time I drive to and from work.

amazing, the Buddha tree! good that the leaves grow back immediately, otherwise it might be mistaken for dead and removed. Interestingly Wiki says it's naturalized in Florida... no mention of California...so maybe an update!
75 ft..sure is naturalized, I'm sure. ;-)

Lori,

Other Ficus species naturalize here, sometimes you see them growing out of the concrete on overpasses. lol! Ficus religiosa doesn't naturalize here because we don't get rain during summer. In Florida it rains a lot during summer.

I have a Chicago Fig. which is supposed to be cold hardy...but I've never had to courage to put it in the ground... It's still in a pot and outdoors for the summer.
so you have the job of keeping Buddhas fig alive in the summer. I'd rather water a tree than a lawn. grass is such a waste of energy and resources. have to build an 8 fold fence.

This Ficus religiosa is very neglected. It doesn't receive water nor fertilizer and it grows like crazy! I'm trying to air-layer the three main stems. The three main tree stems came up from my original plant in a pot which put roots into the ground and I cut the roots and these trees grew from the roots (from the ground). It does this here, a lot! lol!

it's a survivor.... sounds like the sumac I planted near my front door... it's finally matured this year and is in bloom but it's putting out suckers like you wouldn't believe! If I didn't cut them down I'd have a grove of them. That is their natural growth habit..I just don't want more than one... I made the mistake of planting a Sorbus nearby and between the two of them I'm constantly mowing and plucking.

An interesting tree, Andy! Never seen one before.

It most likely will not grow there. It's a tropical tree, native to Southeast Asia. It's a pretty tough tree, though.