The Creeping Fig

The other night I was watching the Valentines episode of The Office and had to pause the TiVo. I wanted to make sure the vine covering the wall outside around the parking lot was actually a ficus pumila. Why? Because this vine, also known as the Creeping Fig, isn't one you'd see in Scranton, thriving like you see it in the photo to the left.

But guess what? We've got them all over Los Angeles! And, yes, even in Burbank where The Office is filmed. I've got them creeping all over the brickwork on my house; so much so that when my house was used in a recent episode of Lie To Me, the set dressers covered up the vine (and the bougainvillea) with foliage more common on the east coast, where the drama is set. [note: enough of you have commented about my house on Lie To Me, that I thought I'd post the clip. Check it out here.]

After closer examination of The Office vine, I determined that it was, indeed, ficus pumila, and decided I'd have to "˜out' the production here on this blog. So there you have it—my sleuthing work is finished for the week.

If you read People or US Weekly, you've probably seen photos of various celebs walking out of Fred Segal, the famous clothing store on Melrose. The store is also famous for it's exterior, which is covered with the ficus vine.

After the jump, you'll find a pantload of other wonderful photos of the vine crawling around southern California.