Hi! New to this forum and soon-to-be-new to fig growing! My husband and I are young farmers starting out on our homestead and are interested in growing resilient, hardy varieties of fig that will do well here. I believe we are in zone 6a.

We plan to incorporate a lot of permaculture principles into our landscape and farm-design, so if you're familiar with that and utilize it yourself then feel free to comment with any fig-friendly permaculture tips. 

I have only had figs from a tree once (PURE bliss) and they were huge, black, and soooo sweet and flavorful. This was in Arizona. :/ 

Any tips? Best varieties to try? Where to buy fig plants? Anyone have slips? (: Thanks!

welcome to the forum Meej, I would try Violette de Bordeaux and Marseilles Black VS.

Welcome

Welcome to the forum Meej.I'd second Marsilles Black VS,aka MBVS.
Vigorous growth,tastes great and proven in cold climates.

Cheers,

Paul

I live about 35 miles from you, on the Green co/Hart co line. I have  VdB, MBVS, and HC that I started last year (all in pots). Been trying to decide whether to prune them for cuttings while they're dormant, or wait and air-layer. Will probably do some of both.

I do some permi stuff. I'm working on a semi-pit greenhouse, you can find threads I've posted with search.

Need any elderberry cuttings?

PM and we'll see about getting together sometime.

Welcome!  If you have a greenhouse to keep some figs in you could grow almost any variety.  Hardy Chicago has survived in ground here in KC, MO (6a) for over 20 years.

Welcome Meej

Hello and good fig hunting.

Welcome to the forum, Meej.  Plenty of good recommendations, Ronde de Bordeaux might be another on worth looking into.  There are plenty of discussions about cold-tolerant fig varieties here, folks have shared their experiences and made lists of the best performing varieties- use the search function if you haven't already.
With a little patience around here, you'll soon discover many folks offer up cuttings to help others get started with figs.   Better yet is to link up with other growers here who are in your area, no shipping fees!  

Welcome to the forum. Zone 6a is not ideal fig growing country but with some extra care it can be done. The choices are to grow in ground with some kind of winter protection, to grow in containers that you move to a pprotected warmer winter location, a heated greenhouse, or some combo and variation on those methods. There is a lot of info on the forum to help you with your pursuit! Good luck!

Hi meej, welcome aboard!

Tony (hllyhll) has a great list of figs for 6a: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/mountain-figs-cold-hardy-early-ripening-6533258. He is in West Virginia.

I have put together this spreadsheet of hardy figs as well (I'm in zone 6b): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ihfyIwZ8l5DyVMFvTOAthQf65jn-2bRRMPGR57AKSyw/edit#gid=0

Also keep an eye out for local plants!