When I got Florea cuttings from Herman in 2009/2010 , he suggested I  plant one of my extra  rooted cuttings in its permanent home in the ground, the first season, here in zone 5 central NH.
Didn't feel daring enough to do it last year, but I ended up planting it a week ago in its final spot. A strip of ground just big enough along the driveway and neighboring concrete retaining wall.
This plant had been grown in a 12"x24" bulb crate that was 8" deep and trained as two arms very close to the ground. An ultra short version of what the Japanese growers were shown doing in their greenhouses, with the idea of getting fruit from the upright growing shoots each season.
Hope the spot works out and that I can just heap soil over it in the Winter for protection along with some bags of leaves and snow from the driveway.
We don't salt that area of the driveway during Winter, so that won't be a worry.
Only bad point is it is mostly western exposure.

I think it will do just fine in that spot.
You will only need protection,the first winter,and after that it will take care of itself without any help from you.

Hope my Winter protection of this Florea in central NH will work.
The plant from this picture at planting time grew a foot or more in all directions and produced some great tasting fruit.

I cut it back hard, then covered with 3" of dry soil , put a layer of foil/bubblewrap insulation to keep it dry.
 Added another 3" of dry soil and a second wider and longer layer of foil/bubble wrap insulation and capped it off with old soil mix from crates I grow veggies in.
 Last layer of old soil mix is just to hold down second layer of bubble wrap.
This is the only plant I have in the ground , all of the rest are in pots.

Best of luck!

Daring yes, Kerry.
Keep us posted. I may later try it in Zone 5a by planting in ground in the spring hoping the extra rooting will give it a better chance.

kerry - i wonder now that we are so late into the season, why did you decide to plant it outdoors right away and not wait for spring like akram suggested ?

I started this thread in late June and had planted this Florea around June 20th. It was grown in a crate for the previous season and trained with two horizontal main arms just above the soil surface , to make it easy to cover when trimmed back.
This was just a follow up on how I decided to protect it for the Winter.
I have a back up in a pot of course.
I sell a few plants on occasion , and many people here are interested in Florea because it is supposed to be so hardy. I figured I should try to over winter in ground to be able to tell customers how or if it worked for me.

Kerry, I see no reason why your in ground Florea will not prosper, where you have it planted.

Bob , the way I covered this plant for the Winter was my attempt at following the description you gave me of how you have protected yours.
Would like to find more spaces where I could trial overwintering the varieties you mention above , but of the three I only have the wonderful MBVS.
I do have a Ronde de Bordeaux that I could easily train to a short , 2 arm horizontal cordon as another to trial next season. Finding an available spot is the problem.

For winter protection here in Norwalk CT many people I know (the local Italian club which I belong to is the local repository of fig tree knowledge) bend the figs tree branches to the ground,bundled them together with rope and are then tied to a stake.

We (kids and I) then fill lawn/leaf bags with our autumn leaves and place the bags everywhere above and below the branches. Then a canvas tarp and plastic tarp. Here's a pic of my baby resting.

In the spring the leaves hit the compost pile. So far, so good....

Hello Striveforfreedom, 

Greetings Bob,

Her name is Bella. She's adjacent to our walkway so we pluck figs off as we walk by all fall long. We are in 6b inland a 2 miles. I suspect the Long Island Sound keeps it a bit warmer than up in Mystic where the Atlantic ocean pounds the shore.

Do you grow any grapes in zone 5? I have a half a dozen Marquette just planted last spring. Might try some cutting of those guys in the new bag method too this winter.

Striveforfreedom,

Thanks for the grape info Bob. I am a fan of the Muscat grape. How do you protect the grapevines for winter? I burried my 4 ft vines, first winter for them and they are still presta skinny. I am in CT too! Faifield County.

Our "Bella" is a Brown Turkey I believe. Main crop set September though first week of November, then the cold drops everything and we wrap her up.

Size is between quarter and half dollar, brown and some purple with strawberry flesh. The figs are smaller but sweeter than the Brown Turkey we find at Stew Leonards (Worlds largest dairy store for the non Nutmeggers). I will try to find a few pics and see if anyone can definitively ID it.

Swenson's Red, Golden Muscat, and Seedless Concord, do not need any winter protection here in our zone 5.

Hi Bob,

Thank you, I think I'm not being too precautions. Wow, every 5 years, I feel for you. I have grow tubes I slipped over the vines and then heaped on the compost and soil.

Update on the original topic of this thread.
This Florea did make it overwinter in the ground here in NH.
Of all the varieties I have , it seems to set maincrop without encouragement from pinching.
I may clear a spot and put a Ronde de Bordeaux next to it. Think that would overwinter here with the same protection ?

That's impressive.  Good job.

My Mom is growing a strain of Hardy Chicago from Herman in ground in Zone 5 in Northern Indiana.  She covers it in Winter, but it has given her two crops of figs the last two years, in ground in Zone 5.

Also, Herman's strain of Hardy Chicago is excellent in flavor.  I have a Hardy Chicago I bought from a national catalog based nursery, and one from Herman.  The one from Herman is far superior.

GeorgiaFig , That is great to hear that HC is doing well in ground for mom in N. Indiana.
How does she do her winter protection for it ?

ForzenJoe, Thanks , I know you remember the Winters up in this neck of the woods before you became RoastingJoe down there in Phoenix.
Best ,
Kerry