I am very new to this forum and in light of what I am reading here, I confess to being a newbie.  This year I have planted a few rows of fig trees.  I have Celeste and Brown Turkey.  My great aunt has a huge fig tree in NC, it is the biggest I have ever seen in my life, the trunk is larger than pics I have seen online.  I am almost certain however that it is Brown Turkey due to the fruit.  Anyhow I have cutting from her tree growing as well.  I would like to ask how cold hardy are these varieties in general?  I have seen weather in my area get to -5 F.  I am basically in 6b-7a growing zones, hard to tell exactly due to different maps I have viewed.  I am primarily wanting to grow figs that are very cold hardy without having to provide major protection.  My plantation is far to large for such efforts as I have seen on this forum.  I would prefer sticking with varieties that would do great with just a thick mulch.  I read Hardy Chicago is the most cold hardy variety you can easily obtain.  Does anyone know an accurate difference in cold hardiness between Brown Turkey, Celeste and Hardy Chicago?  I have read the sites that sell them and they have their exact numbers of cold hardiness but I tend to not believe these general numbers.  If someone has experience with these trees or other cold hardy varieties that will do well in my area please let me know.

I my self am new to figs and welcome this is a great site. Here is a link to cold Hardy figs that might be helpful as it was to me. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ihfyIwZ8l5DyVMFvTOAthQf65jn-2bRRMPGR57AKSyw/htmlview?pli=1#

Wow thanks for the quick response Chad.  I will be reading over this information.  Are your plants in the ground and if so do you have protect them?

I just started this fall with fig trees. I have had good luck with cuttings so far and this spring will get some into the ground to see if they make it over winter. I plan on trying Florea, Hardy Chicago, MBvs, RdB, Olympian, Nero 600 in ground so far... I will protect them as they will be young trees. First to get them to survive here in zone 5 and then be productive. It will be interesting and hope to share my results here.

Chad, be sure to take cuttings and root them as back up trees.  Zone 5 growers often lose protected figs.  Good luck!