TREES, PLEASE! Mr. Dressup Tree
- k-england
- May 1
- 3 min read
By Tim Clancy, for Let’s Talk Plants! May 2025.
I lived in Canada for twelve years from 1975 to 1987. There was a children’s television show there that was much like the famous Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood. The name of that show was Mr. Dressup. It ran for twenty-nine seasons and 4,000 episodes. I was too old to watch daily, but ended up watching a few episodes for fun. Clowns, pirates, puppeteers and all sorts of characters were featured by Mr. Dressup (played by a Canadian and Fred Rogers’ friend, Ernie Coombs).
In Encinitas on a kind of busy street a few blocks from a high school and elementary school there was a tree. In addition to the nearby schools, the street also has two churches. The street connects from one main thoroughfare to another a few blocks either way. In other words, this tree was in a high traffic area right in front of an original 1960s home in the city.
When it was thriving and alive it was a rusty fig, Ficus rubiginosa. It wasn’t very tall and, judging by the diameter, not all that old when it declined and ultimately died. The rusty fig can grow to 50’ tall x 60’ wide in the right conditions. Its leathery dark green leaves have a glossy “finish”. The tree is native to eastern Australia where its seeds are consumed as a fuel source.
Speaking of figs, there is a Moreton Bay Fig at Balboa Park that is massive and worth a visit. Twenty years ago, the tree was measured at about 80’ tall and 125’ wide and a massive 486” girth. The tree was officially measured in 1996 at 78 feet (24 meters) high, with a crown width of 123 feet (37 meters) and a trunk girth of 486 inches (12.3 meters). It is one of the three largest Moreton Bay Fig trees in the state of California. When I moved here in the 1980s, people would gather under the tree and there was a high level of foot traffic. Soil compaction was becoming a problem, so a fence was installed to keep people out of the critical root zone. This management decision was wise as the tree is still thriving.
(Editor's note: There is a current picture of the Balboa Park tree in the NEXT MEETING: The Horticultural History of San Diego article in this edition of the newsletter!)
Our tree, though dead, was destined to provide the neighborhood with a couple of years of entertainment. You see the owners decided to give their tree the Mr. Dressup treatment for all to enjoy. One day I was driving by and there it was in all its glory dressed in honor of Valentines Day.
And then came Easter and then a generic (not boring) summer theme.
Of course, the community loved the idea, and it wasn’t long before neighbors started leaving ornaments in the hopes that they too would someday adorn the tree. I’m sure I’m not the only one who waited with excited anticipation to see what the next costume would be.
One neighbor even left pen and paper with instructions to leave a note for the owners telling them how much the tree is enjoyed.
It was great to see a “tree” have a second career so to speak. I am sorry to say that the tree did end up falling over and its time as a celebriTREE came to a loud and violent end in the chipper of a local tree company.
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