Hello everyone.

First I must apologize to those of you have been waiting for an update on this fig tree. I located it in my area back in Jan. of this year. But, in my defense, I did get a bunch of good pics of it (them) starting in Jan. & right up through Aug.

The first few images are of the dormant trees back in Jan.

Okay, I'm having trouble with loading the images. Thought I had this figured out......Please stand by :-} .

EDIT: Due to gorgi's kind assistance you can now see some images below. Thanks!

ANOTHER EDIT: Here is the link to the thread I originally started about this tree.   http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4319522

How about this?.....

Alright, guess I got it this time.

The shot on the left is in the yard of Mr Haikel's grandson. This one's up next to his house. The pic on the right is out in his yard, down closer to the road. It's interesting to note how the tree that's more exposed to the elements is growing more like a bush whereas the one up next to the house seems to be happy growing more like a tree. 

The middle shot is of one that's behind a local doctor's office. The tree was given to him by Mr Elias. I was able to more readily access this tree and was therefore able to get as many photos of it as I wanted. This tree was loaded with fruit this year as you will see in later posts.

Okay, can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? The pictures where there when I previewed my post. Wassup? 

Since you saw the pictures, they must be the right size (less than 1 M byte).

Thank you gorgi. Just like you said, they appeared "like magic".

Now to see if I can make it happen again :-) !

Here are a couple more pics from a little later in the season.

If you look closely you can see a few little brebas starting to form. These three pics are all of the tree behind the Dr's office.

This tree is very exposed to the elements and receives plenty of cold north wind during the coldest part of the year. Last winter we had temps near 0F  on more than one occaision. Reports stated that this past winter was the coldest for our area in more than 20 years.

The important thing is that this tree had zero damage. Not just minimal die-back but no cold damage, not even on the branch tips. There was one small dead branch one the lower part of the tree but this could have been from a number of other reasons. 

So, this tree seems to be very cold hardy indeed.

I want the money shot!  Where's the picture of the ripe fruit and juicy, flavorful insides?!  ;)

saxonfig,

Software Alzheimer's - That's funny gorgi. I'm sure Jon will get it tracked down. BTW I didn't have any problem the with the second set of pics.

Jason, I know I'm torturing you guys a bit but bear with me. I'm going full circle with this thing. Good things come to those who wait - right :-)?

At least these next ones are getting much closer. Check 'em out:

The information you have shared with us on the Haikel Lebanese Fig tree is really interesting.  keep us posted!

Okay folks. No more holding out on you. Here's the goods.

These next two are of the original 2 parent trees I found in Murray, KY. AKA the 2 trees in the yard of the gradnson of Mr Haikel.

All of the images in this post are of the tree that's behind the local doctors' office.

Now for the "money shot" as satellitehead put it.

I'll be glad to try to answer any questions about these trees if anyone has any.

I also would really like to hear from those of you who rec'd cuttings of this 'new-to-us' variety. I lost every cutting I started of this one. Which leads me to think that it's not the easiest to start from cuttings. Of course, I have to concede to that fact that "new guy syndrome" may have had alot to do with that.

So, how did you all fare with rooting & keeping this one alive from cuttings? I know many of you are far more experienced at this than I am. I hope there are many little Haikel figlings out there that are doing well. Please let us know.

brunswick fig

Really?! Ya gotta be kidding me :-\ ! 

I don't know that much about fig varieties yet but I didn't realize that Brunswick was this cold hardy? Otherwise it would have already been very high on my list of figs to get.

Just to clarify. This tree doesn't die back to the ground here in zone 6b - at all. AND it's been in this area for a long time. I just woulda thought that I would have heard someone mention Brunswick's extreme cold hardiness by now -??

Everyone else see the same thing figman sees?

I have seen a couple varieities from syria and lebanon that resemble brunswick. This fig looks very similar to brunswick, but may not be exactly the same fig. The leaves, the fruit, the open eye, the color of skin is all similar to brunswick. The skin on the brunswick is known to act as a sponge when it rains, not sure if this is the same.
The bottom line is it may or may not be genetically the same fig, but it does have the same characteristics as brunswick.

I was just thinking to myself Brunswick as well.

Still (supposedly) not a bad fig.

Meanwhile, thanks for the pics and, I LOOOOOOVE this one where you can see two wasps and a bumblebee chowing down on an overripe fig:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1056602

That fig is not Brunswick.
The leaves are more like Stella,but the interior is not.
The eye is not as much open as Brunswick.
Here is something Similar:
This was an unknown,I got from George M,and gave it up free this Fall,to a gardener friend.
I called it Long Brown Honey ,because of how it looks and how it taste.

I assure you it does not behave like Brunswick,in getting sour,and spoil,but I had limited space so I had to give it up to plant new young plants ,one of them of course Hikel yellow.

figman; Didn't mean to be doubting you or anything. Just hoping it was something "newer" than Brunswick.

Bass; Thank you for your input. As soon as I saw figman's post I was over on Jon's variety pages checking out Brunswick and all the other ones listed as being similar.

Well, at least we have a type to compare it to in most respects.
The big question that remains with me though is this;
Has anyone ever heard of Brunswick being this cold hardy? 

It withstands temps in the single digits every year and the record lows in this area have gone well below zero (within the past 100 years). The doctor who has one of these trees said his never dies back at all. He's grown it in an exposed area (see pics) for more than 10 years. I initially doubted him on this until I watched his come back from the coldest winter we've had in 10 yrs - with no branch tip damage!

Jason; Glad you noticed the wasps & butterfly. But I hadn't even seen the bumble bee below the same fruit as the wasps. Good eye man! I had seen several bees & other bugs buzzing around while there this particular day. So when I saw some sitting on the fruit I just had to try to get a shot. There was also some sort of little bee or fly buzzing my hand that I just happen to get in one of the shots (the pic just to the left of the wasp pic). Wish it was a fig wasp :-) .

Thank you all for sharing this fig with me. I look forward to more comments.  

H2; Glad to hear your input. So the mystery deepens a little. Brunswick-like but not likely Brunswick. Hmmm. Thanks for the pics of that similar looking fig too. The size of yours is about the same but I notice at least two differences. One, the fruit shape is a little more squat. Two, the interior is more pinkish.
The flesh color on the Haikel is definately more amber to honey colored.

I forgot to mention the taste. Not sure how accurate this will be from memory but I'llgive it shot. Wish I had one in hand right now to help me draw some inspiration ;-) . One of the first things that struck me when I bit into the first, perfectly ripe, fruit was a bit of a 'peachy' flavor. It was sweet but certainly not over-powering so.

I must admit, I don't have alot of fig tasting under my belt but to me, this fig was really good. I've had a few Italian Honey figs which are very sweet & tastey to me. But this fig had more "character" to the flavor than IH. That's about the best way I can think to describe it at the moment.

One other thing. They seem to be quite edible at a fair range of ripeness stages. That make any sense? In other words they didn't have to be drooping for them to be at the best tasting stage. In fact they tasted even better when they were still a touch firm. Not hard or green but not mushy either. Soft when squeezed but not too soft. 

All this description is sure making me want one right now. Juicey & tastey mmmm.

I have a bunch of other pictures of the fruit but, unfortunately, many of them are out of focus. The day I was photographing the fruit, the camera was on the wrong setting. I didn't realize it until after I had eaten all the fruit. I didn't get the chance to get back over there for more fruit either 'til it was too late.

But I figure I'll share some of those out-of-focus pics anyway. Might help to get a better perspective at least.

Just wanted to bump this thread again to try to get some more input.

I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who received cuttings of this tree from me. I know there are several of you that I sent some to ;-) . Please share what kind of success you had with gettng this fig to root and let us know how they are doing now. If you have any pictures it would be great to see them.

Personally I lost all of this one that I started from cuttings. Fortunately, I have one small rooted division that was doing well at seasons end. I neglected to get any pics of mine before I buried it just a couple days ago.

I rooted 2 gave one as a gift to someone,and have one buried.
They are under 1 foot tall and did not fruit yet.

I believe we traded three cuttings of HL.  Two rooted well, the third wound up being my last cutting, and I was saddened to clear off the top of the refrigerator 2 weeks ago and find a dried up cutting :(

The two that took rooted well; I traded one at a plant swapback in June.

All of the cuttings that I got from you failed to root. Too bad, those figs look pretty tasty!

Glad to hear of your success H2 & Jason. I look forward to seeing how they do in your two seperate locations. The fella I got the cuttings from said he has family in AL (I think). He indicated that this tree grows more vigorously & larger in more southern locals. Makes sense though.

Sorry to hear about yours L J. I'd say this tree will do fairly well even in your zone. It would be very interesting to see if (or how much) it would die back in z5 or colder. Maybe we'll eventually get one back in your neck of the woods again.