A good article about Dr. Ed O'Rourke...http://modernfarmer.com/2014/12/fig-man-campus/

The Fig Man On Campus

What a great article and neat publication. Dr O'rourke was a great man and have enjoyed his figs very much.

Great article, JD.

I enjoyed the article as well...but wasn't the Hunt fig developed by a gentleman in Georgia?

Good article, thx for sharing!

My salutes to Dr.O'Rourke. I am very happy growing his varieties.

What I liked most about the article, Jimmie, was that we forum fignuts were officially acknowledged in a very positive way. 
We do have value after all! Hurray for us!
 

Yes Frank, hurrah for us, we try our best to be positive and of value. Sometimes encouragement is the only thing that we have to offer on a subject that we do not have the expertise to give advice, but encouragement is good. I think we are a good bunch of people. I vote yes.

This is a picture of Dr. Ed O'Rourke on the left with a dear friend.
"gene'

Gene (or anyone) do you have his book about gardening in the humid South?  I found it through a link and told my wife Id like it for my birthday....  mainly about fruit trees or also ornamentals?

 James, I purchased his book but I was disappointed that he had very little to say about figs and no mention to the varieties he developed.

For those that might not know.

Dr. Charley Johnson was there when a lot O'Rourkes work was being done and is the LSU resident expert on the fig program.  Many of us had the pleasure of going to the LSU Fig Field Day 2 yrs ago and it was a wonderful experience and Dr. Charley is a wonderful speaker on the subject and spoke informally to us in a question and answer session that lasted at least 2 hrs.

I don't think they will be doing another field day but if they do, make all effort to get there some how, some way, it is really a wonderful opportunity.  I drove 7 hours to get there.

Count us lucky that we were there.

James, this book was written, as Dr O'Rourke put it, by two old "crotchety horticulture professors". He says "they didn't retire from horticulture but from the clutches of administrators who had kept them from doing fun things". After retirement they were allowed to keep there offices and access to the fields plots for small scale research. This book is from that time period where they did what they wanted and what they enjoyed.

The book covers a little about figs but most of the book is devoted, as the title says, to gardening in the humid South. If you've never been in the deep South during the Summer perhaps you've been in a greenhouse during times when the temps are in the nineties and the humidity isn't far behind. It so hot and humid that you work up a sweat just standing in the shade and thinking about how hot it is. This atmosphere brings on many advantages but along with the advantages comes all the disadvantages. In the book they cover everything from garden tools, and soils, to fertilizers and insects. It's a great book on general gardening principles and practices. If you're looking for a fig book this is not the one although it is entertaining and packed with very good info.

I enjoyed it very much but that might be because I live in the "humid South" and I enjoy gardening year round. I have as much space devoted to veggies as I do trees.

I hope this helps,
"gene"

Excellent article Jimmie. Thank you.

Navid.

Thanks for the encomium Frank and Frank and Navid (Good to hear form you).

Gene, Nice photo. Looks like a healthy Aspidistra hangout.