My sister has a mission fig tree but I think she can get better flavor.  I gave her a Kathleen Black but it hasn't budded out yet.  It is still alive.  I can't imagine it producing figs if it buds so late there.  She had it inside for their 3 day winter.  She likes dark figs (Sorry, Martin, she's already married  :- ).  So what else should I send her?  There's not a lot of heat and sun there but the highs above 65 most of the year and the lows are above 40 almost all year.


Edit - would Black Madeira produce there?

RC - since she favors the dark type figs
if you want her to get mad at you send her a white type fig .

VdB in my climate was much better tasting than the mission i had.

 VdB, HC, Sal's, Dark Portuguese are some good choices.

Black Madeira would not work in a cooler climate.

Worth trying would be Violette de Bordeaux and Celeste.

I second Jon's recommendation for Celeste.  Also, even though she likes dark figs, maybe try talking her into getting a Desert King.

Here are my recommendations....
Violette de Bordeaux
Improved Celeste
Tacoma Violet
Petite Negra
Marseilles Black

Bob,
How about Santa Cruz Dark. I think I have an extra one.
mgg

Maltese Falcon, Maltese Beauty and Sicilian Black are better than Mission Black to me. I forgot Black Jack, that one surprised the heck out of me last year, very sweet, huge and prolific! It's supposedly related to Brown Turkey, but tasted better than any Brown Turkey I ever ate!

I'm also in Oakland. We just ate some delicious fruit off a hand-me-down tree we believe is a Black Mission. Delicious!

We've also got Grosse Monstreuse, Desert King, an unknown Italian from Occidental, and a Craigslist Mystery. They're all quite young, but the Grosse Monstreuse is producing fruit, which is very exciting.

Thanks, everyone!  I think I'll give her a VdB and graft on a few of the above branches.

If you can find it, Lampeira preto looks really good, how it does it cooler climates I don't know, maybe colar as well?  I am just thinking of Breba producing trees so maybe they ripen in the hottest time of year for you.