Just wanted to thank several members of this forum, for their generosity in both sending me cuttings free of charge, or, with purchases, filling the envelope with multiple cuttings, as well as additional cultivars for free.  I am amazed at how generous our forum members are.  I planned on about 10 to 15 cultivars, and I ended up with over 30!  I would like to thank Martin way back in March for the lovely RdB cuttings (which I received 2 more than what I actually paid for), which have all sprouted and have actually produced their first crop (love living in San Diego county!). I can blame Martin for starting my desire to expand my cultivars! And more recently I would like to thank Frank (FMD) for letting me call him Ed :-P, Kerry, Marius, Navid (for being SO patient with me!), Al Richer, Bill Saxon, Gorgi, Barry B. (BLB), Daniel W., and a very, very special thank you to figfinatic for the extremely special fig cuttings from my neck of the woods that has a very special story behind it.  Forgive me for this awful photo, I was losing light fast, but was getting all my cuttings arranged in my greenhouse, and wanted to share this with you all:


I will try to post a better photo tomorrow, in the daylight. And, forgive me if I forgot anyone, I tried very hard to keep an accurate list of all the wonderful folks I've bought cuttings from, or who have kindly sent me cuttings, but in my haste and over the holidays, I may have missed someone.  Hoping for some rooting in the next few weeks, since our crazy cold weather has left us, and we're in a more normal winter temp situation, now.  Again, thank you all so very much!  I will keep the forum posted as to how things go!!

Patty. I'm glad I could be an enabler (er, I mean contributor)!

I'm sure you will make some beautiful fig trees out of those little sticks ;) .

I agree, Patty.  You're practically dealing with a stranger at first.  I too am amazed at how generous the members of this forum are.  It's so nice to see there are still genuine, good people out there.  Some may see it as no big deal to send out a cutting to a stranger, but it's very much appreciated and means a whole lot to me when I receive them.

Thanks, Bill!  I have to tell you, my husband was so excited when he saw all those Italian named figs, lol!!  He said, "Now you've got it right - Italian figs!!"  And, so glad to have Hardy Chicago, it is such a great, solid fig.  I hope it will do well in my area.  Both my husband are of Italian extraction, so any fig with an Italian name has a home here, hah!  Both of our grandparents had figs brought over from where they were from in Italy, and were both wonderful gardeners.  If you're Italian, you have to have at least one fig tree and at least one lemon tree in your garden :-)

You are welcome Patty. It was my pleasure helping you.

Navid.

You were so sweet, Navid!  Crossing my fingers for those VERY special cultivars, oh boy!! 

Good luck Patty, you have a very neatly organized set up of cuttings looks great!

Impressive!  Love your set up! 

Suzi

Thank you, Barry, you are part of the "big experiment", lol!  And thank you, Suzi.  This little greenhouse was a gift by my dh 2 years ago.  I'm finally getting it up and running.  It's nothing big - 8 x 12 - but it gives me a place to propagate things, and keep the critters at bay.  Although it looks like I'm going to have to yank everything out, and put down hardware cloth on my DG floor, and the da#*ed ground squirrels have dug up inside it.  And, I must get screening up on the roof to cool it down during the summer.  Even though I'm close to the ocean, it still gets bloody hot in there during the summer.  That, and a big laundry tray sink and some electricity will make it perfect!  Coming soon, I hope.

When we remodeled my late mother in laws home to sell, we replaced the sink and counters, and I kept that old sink under huge protest from JD for exactly what you are doing!  It's in storage waiting till we seal the deal on our new property.  He's going to build me a potting shelf and insert that sink into it to keep me from messing up the kitchen with all my little cups and potting soil!  ;-))

It will also come in handy for winemaking.  Those grapes stain!!

Suzi

That was very smart, Suzi.  My hubby has connections in the plumbing industry, so he's promised a nice laundry tray for my greenhouse.  We built the greenhouse ourselves, took us one long day and a gazillion screws, be we did it.  So, were are you moving to that is "sub-tropical"?  More my way?  (N. San Diego county).

Hi Patty,

Had I known you were of Italian extraction and an RN, I would have treated you super-extra special, as I am Italian born and an MD. You can call me Ed anytime. :))
What part of Italy was you family from?

21/2 years ago my wife helped me hunt for fig cuttings on our Italian vacation. I have trees from Liguria, Amalfi and of course my birth-province , Calabria. I would be glad to share although, I know you have limited yourself to a specific number of fig trees.

Frank

Oh!  Grazie amico mio!!  My family is from the Emilia-Romagna area outside of Bologna (Sasso Marconi, and yes, I am related to Guglielmo Marconi, he is my great great uncle, my great great grandfather's brother, and my father bore a striking resemblance to him).  I am an OB nurse by trade (NICU/PICU/High Risk OB), but now am in the pharma support industry as I wind down my career.  I am trying to muster up the courage to go knocking on my grandmother's old home here in Oceanside, and asking the current owners to see if there is a fig tree there.  If so, I would ask for cuttings, as it would have been the tree she took with her all over the United States and Canada.  She brought over a cutting when she immigrated to the US, and she took a cutting everytime she moved.  I can't remember if she had it in Oceanside or not, but she did have it in Canada growing up, actually growing in the ground (Surrey, BC).  I cannot imagine she didn't bring a cutting with her when she came down to S. California.  My grandmother told me that you must eat figs and lemons every day in order to have good health and live a long life.  She must have been on to something, as she lived to 96 and passed quietly in her sleep.  Che vita, eh??

What a great set-up! I hope every one roots for you and you get lots of great figs.

I'm happy to contribute. I really like the idea of trees growing in various parts of the country that got started as a cutting from me, gives me a good feeling. I do wish I was able to honor every request I get for scion too, but of course some varieties are in much more demand and much rarer too.

Thank you, Bob, me, too!!  And I agree with you, Barry, I love to see how the various cultivars do around the world, and it's pretty cool to see some very special, unique and rare varieties being shared amongst fig affectionados!

Thank you for you kind words, Bob.  I'll try to snap some better photos today, in the sunshine, which we have an abundance of today, and nice warm weather, finally!!

Glad they worked out for you Hoosier.  ; )

Thank YOU Patty!! I'm still waiting on the Panache to root, can't wait to taste those yummy striped figs!

I still can't believe the generosity in this place, it is truly AMAZING!! I tear up just thinking about it, really, twice today...I'm no softy either, my wife tells me I look tough, lol. I wish I could find what it is about this forum and it's members that makes it what it is to copy and spread it.

Imagine a world where everyone was as friendly and generous as they are here...  This all may sound a little over the top to some, but I've never seen anything like it, and it truly amazes me. did I say that already??

gotta go look at my trees and how I want to shape them...cuttings to come...

P.S. Hmmmm...maybe its something in the figs, lol

Well, so glad you are anticipating those fabulous figs.  I still have to mail out cuttings to Kerry (Kerry, they are coming!), but have been working past daylight, or have had rains to contend with.  I have to get up on a ladder (dread) to get to the last branches I can prune from, but I need to prune that branch down anyway, so hoping I can grab a bit of daylight to do that today, and get Kerry's cuttings in the mail.  Somehow I missed Kerry on my mailing list, so I will make every effort to get out there today to do that.  And yes, everyone has been so very generous and kind, and I would never have such a fine collection if it weren't for the thoughtfulness and generosity of our forum members :-)

Okay, a better, clear couple of photos of the fig set up.  I noticed I had some interesting early root growth on a few cuttings, so I'm excited that I might get some quick rooting, and the daytime temps have been nice and warm:





And, I would love opinions between Clonex and Dip & Grow.  I'm thinking of switching to Clonex, as I'm hearing such great results.  Since I'm in such a mild winter climate area, I simply pot my cuttings right up, but a root stimulator is still a wise thing to do, even in my winters, since I'm doing all this outside. 

I like your collection of succulents. I grow a lot of succulents, like around a thousand or so plants. I'm active in the local cactus and succulent society and compete with them in the Philly Flower Show  

Wow Barry!  I guess we all have our little side hobbies!  Succulents.  I had an Agave plant, strictly for the nectar, which never happened, and the tequila root, which didn't either.  It kinda took over the front door, so it got replaced with some little flowers.

I never thought about these, really.  I may think about them now with that huge rocky hill we have an offer on.  Any spot without a fig tree or a head trained wine grape, might be a candidate.  I love green!  Do they stay green?

Suzi

Oh, Barry!  I am a huge, huge, huge succulent grower.  They are everywhere, in the ground, in pots, succulent wreaths, etc.  I have mostly cultivars that do well in my landscape, or perform well in containers/sphagnum moss wreaths, but I do have a few rare cultivars.  One particularly rare cultivar, Aloe polyphylla (Spiral Aloe), seems to really like it here.  Very hard to grow, but mine are doing well:

Yes, Suzi, succulents stay green.  Or bronze, silver, blue, etc.  They come in many shades.  I love them to little pieces.  As much as I love figs :-)