Chinese banyan

Eastern Australian temperate forests

Fynbos shrubland

New Zealand North Island temperate forests

Amur maple (Acer ginnala, accepted by Kew's Plants of the World Online as Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala) is a small, fast-growing deciduous tree or large multi-stemmed shrub from northeastern Asia - the Russian Far East, northeastern China, and Korea. At 15 to 20 feet it fits where a full-size maple cannot, and it earns that place with three seasons of interest: fragrant greenish-yellow flowers in spring, which is an unusual scent for a maple and an early nectar source for bees; small glossy three-lobed leaves through summer; and reliable, often brilliant red-to-orange fall color that arrives early. It is also one of the hardiest maples, tolerant of cold, wind, dry soil, and a wide range of pH. The honest catch, and it is a serious one for North American gardeners, is that it self-sows prolifically and has escaped cultivation to become invasive across parts of the US Midwest and Northeast, where its shade-tolerant seedlings crowd native shrubs and understory trees in open woods, savannas, and prairies. Several states list it as invasive or a noxious weed. Check your local invasive-species list before planting, and be prepared to remove seedlings if you do.

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

10 ft

Habit

Evergreen banyan fig with a dense, rounded crown, smooth gray bark and thin hanging aerial roots that can thicken into extra trunks; grown indoors as a potted tree or bonsai

Care tips

•

Treat it as a houseplant or bonsai: in the ground it is a Category I invasive in central and south Florida, and PIER records it as naturalized in Hawaii.

•

Give it bright light and warmth; NC State Extension lists full sun to partial shade and says it does best above 68°F all year.

•

Keep the mix evenly moist but well drained, since NC State Extension warns that overwatering causes root rot.

Lifecycle

Planting

Grow it in a pot with drainage holes, in bright light: NC State Extension lists full sun to partial shade and a soil high in organic matter that drains well but stays moist. NC State gives USDA zones 9a to 11b outdoors, but in the ground it is invasive in central and south Florida and in Hawaii, and PIER records that Miami-Dade County prohibits planting it. Where it is allowed outdoors, keep it in a container and far from paving, house foundations and irrigation lines, which PIER says its roots destroy.

Transplanting

Move a potted plant outdoors only in warm weather and bring it back in before cold nights: NC State Extension says it does best above 68°F all year, which is why it is sold as a houseplant, and Wikipedia says it suffers damage below 32°F. The Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment records that it tolerates hard cutting back, which suits the pruning of roots and branches that keeps a bonsai small.

Early growth

Keep the mix evenly moist but never waterlogged: NC State Extension warns that overwatering causes root rot, and lists leaf spot and gray mold too. It likes humid air, and NC State says humidity of 70 to 100 percent favours the aerial roots. Indoors watch for aphids, spider mites, mealybugs and scale; NC State also lists Cuban laurel thrips, banded greenhouse thrips and fern scale.

Maturity

As a houseplant or bonsai it stays the size its pot and pruning allow. Outdoors NC State Extension describes a dense, rounded crown, smooth gray bark, milky sap and long, thin, dangling aerial roots; Flora of North America adds that the roots sometimes form pillars, and Flora of China gives wild trees 49 to 82 feet tall. PIER, quoting a Hawaii weed guide, says banyan roots destroy pavement, house foundations and irrigation lines, and NC State notes that dry-wood termites attack it.

Propagation

NC State Extension recommends stem cuttings, rooted in water or directly in sand or potting soil. It sets viable seed only where its own pollinating wasp, Eupristina verticillata, is present; there, NC State and PIER say birds and other fruit-eating animals spread the seeds, which sprout on walls, in concrete cracks and on other trees, sending down roots that strangle the host.

Native range

Worldwide native range.

Climate notes

•

Indoors except in USDA zones 9 and warmer. NC State Extension lists Ficus microcarpa for zones 9a to 11b, and no second horticultural source consulted states a zone for it, so the range here rests on NC State alone. NC State also says it does best above 68°F all year, which is why it is sold as a houseplant, and Wikipedia says it is damaged below 32°F, so in zone 9 a hard freeze can hurt it.

•

Invasive in Florida. The Florida Invasive Species Council (FISC) lists Ficus microcarpa, as Indian laurel fig, in Category I for central and south Florida on its list updated April 2026: its most serious category, for plants already displacing native species and changing native plant communities. The UF/IFAS Assessment of Non-Native Plants is milder, rating it Caution (manage to prevent escape) in central and south Florida and not a problem species in north Florida, and lists it in 13 counties from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Indian River south to Miami-Dade and the Keys. PIER records, citing a 2001 source, that Miami-Dade County prohibits planting it. FISC adds that its listing does not cover Ficus microcarpa subsp. fuyuensis, the plant sold as green island ficus.

•

Invasive in Hawaii. PIER records it as naturalized in disturbed lowland areas, gulches, dry to moist forest and on cliffs in Hawaii, at least on Oahu, Maui and Hawai'i island, and seen growing on native wiliwili trees on Maui. The Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment scores it 10, high risk, and the Florida version of the assessment rejects it with a score of 12. It needs its own pollinating wasp, Eupristina verticillata, to set seed, and Wikipedia notes that the wasp has travelled with it.

•

In coastal California it was long planted as a street tree. Wikipedia reports that its roots lift sidewalks, that many California cities no longer recommend it, and that since its wasp became established in southern California it has naturalized in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and Ventura counties, on buildings and bridges and on palm trees. Flora of North America records the wasp in the Los Angeles area since 1992, and WCVP lists California as an introduced area.

•

The native range here is taken from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), the dataset POWO publishes: from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Himalaya through Myanmar, Indochina, southern China, Hainan, Taiwan and southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands, across Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea to Queensland, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands. WCVP records it as introduced in 29 areas, among them Florida, California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Bermuda, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Peru and Venezuela. The UF/IFAS Assessment page gives its origin as Africa and lists Ficus thonningii, an African fig, as a synonym; WCVP, Flora of China and NC State all place its origin in Asia, and this record follows them.

•

Size depends on where it grows. NC State Extension gives 2 to 50 feet tall and 2 to 40 feet wide, from a potted plant to a tree that reaches 40 feet with a 40 feet crown outdoors in Mediterranean climates; Flora of China gives 49 to 82 feet in the wild, Flora of North America up to 98 feet, and Wikipedia 82 feet, occasionally 115 feet. The size here follows NC State.

•

The figs are described differently by each flora: Flora of China gives yellow to slightly red figs 0.2 to 0.3 inches across, Flora of North America purple or black ones 0.35 to 0.43 inches long in Florida, and NC State figs that start green and ripen reddish.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Acer ginnala

Amur maple

English yew (Taxus baccata) is a slow-growing, exceptionally long-lived evergreen conifer native across Europe (except Iceland), the Caucasus, Turkey eastward to northern Iran, and Morocco and Algeria in North Africa, valued for centuries as the definitive topiary and formal hedge tree. Its dense, dark-green needle foliage tolerates extreme shade and hard clipping, making it the premier structural plant for sculptured gardens. The honest catch is severe toxicity: nearly every part of the plant - needles, bark, seeds - contains cardiotoxic taxine alkaloids with no antidote, posing a lethal risk to humans, livestock, horses, and dogs; only the red fleshy aril is non-toxic, though the enclosed seed is deadly.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Taxus baccata

English Yew

Amur maple (Acer ginnala, accepted by Kew's Plants of the World Online as Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala) is a small, fast-growing deciduous tree or large multi-stemmed shrub from northeastern Asia - the Russian Far East, northeastern China, and Korea. At 15 to 20 feet it fits where a full-size maple cannot, and it earns that place with three seasons of interest: fragrant greenish-yellow flowers in spring, which is an unusual scent for a maple and an early nectar source for bees; small glossy three-lobed leaves through summer; and reliable, often brilliant red-to-orange fall color that arrives early. It is also one of the hardiest maples, tolerant of cold, wind, dry soil, and a wide range of pH. The honest catch, and it is a serious one for North American gardeners, is that it self-sows prolifically and has escaped cultivation to become invasive across parts of the US Midwest and Northeast, where its shade-tolerant seedlings crowd native shrubs and understory trees in open woods, savannas, and prairies. Several states list it as invasive or a noxious weed. Check your local invasive-species list before planting, and be prepared to remove seedlings if you do.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Acer ginnala

Amur maple

Buddhist pine (Podocarpus macrophyllus) is a slow-growing evergreen conifer native to southern Japan, southern and eastern China, Taiwan, and northern Myanmar, long prized in East Asian gardens and feng shui traditions. In mild climates it makes a handsome, dense column of strap-like dark-green foliage suitable for hedging, topiary, or a statement specimen; it also tolerates container culture well. The honest catch is its frost-tenderness: plants are reliable only from zone 7b (about 10°F) southward, and a late cold snap in zone 7 can kill established specimens to the ground. Layered on that is its pace - growth is genuinely slow, so a screening hedge planted today may take 15-20 years to reach useful height.

Podocarpus macrophyllus

Buddhist Pine

Cordyline australis is a dramatic, palm-like evergreen tree native to New Zealand, where it ranges from North Cape to the southern South Island. In warm-temperate gardens (USDA zones 8-11) it makes an unmistakable structural focal point with its stout trunk, arching sword-leaf crown, and spectacular fragrant flower panicles in late spring. The honest catch is its scale and tenderness: it can exceed 33 feet in mild climates, its fibrous roots are expansive and difficult to remove, a single hard frost below about 23°F can kill or badly damage an established specimen, and the saponin-bearing foliage is toxic to cats and dogs - making it a gamble outside sheltered coastal or urban sites in colder zone-8 gardens.

English yew (Taxus baccata) is a slow-growing, exceptionally long-lived evergreen conifer native across Europe (except Iceland), the Caucasus, Turkey eastward to northern Iran, and Morocco and Algeria in North Africa, valued for centuries as the definitive topiary and formal hedge tree. Its dense, dark-green needle foliage tolerates extreme shade and hard clipping, making it the premier structural plant for sculptured gardens. The honest catch is severe toxicity: nearly every part of the plant - needles, bark, seeds - contains cardiotoxic taxine alkaloids with no antidote, posing a lethal risk to humans, livestock, horses, and dogs; only the red fleshy aril is non-toxic, though the enclosed seed is deadly.

Jelly palm, also sold as pindo palm, is the cold-hardy feather palm of southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and Uruguay, and one of the hardiest feather-leaved palms in cultivation. For decades it was treated as Butia capitata, and nurseries and several references still sell and describe this palm as Butia capitata, although Kew's WCVP accepts Butia odorata and the true B. capitata is a more tropical, less hardy palm that is rare in gardens. It is a slow-growing, single-stemmed palm of 15 to 20 feet with a stout trunk knobbed by persistent leaf bases and a crown of long, arching, strongly recurved blue-green to gray-green leaves whose stalks are edged with sharp teeth. Large sprays of small, fruity-scented cream to yellowish flowers are followed by clusters of edible yellow to orange fruit about 1 inch across, sweet and fibrous around a hard stone and traditionally made into jelly or wine. UF/IFAS rates it hardy to about 10°F, and notes that it survives in south Florida but grows much better in cooler, less humid climates. It is not documented as invasive, though Wikipedia records occasional naturalized populations in the southeastern United States.

An evergreen African fig grown outside frost-free climates as a houseplant and, above all, as a bonsai: Wikipedia says it is a popular bonsai because it grows fast and is robust. In the wild it is a shrub or tree up to 98 feet tall that can start life as an epiphyte on another tree, Figweb says, with leathery, oblong to obovate leaves 1 to 3.9 inches long and small round figs in pairs at the leaf bases that ripen reddish orange or yellow, according to Flora Zambesiaca. It grows wild across tropical Africa, from Senegal east to Sudan and Kenya and south to KwaZulu-Natal. No source rates its cold hardiness, so this record keeps it indoors except in USDA zones 11 and warmer. NC State Extension says fig latex can irritate skin, and the ASPCA lists weeping fig, the closest fig it covers, as toxic to dogs, cats and horses. In Uganda its inner bark is beaten into barkcloth, a craft on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

Full sun / Part shade