I have 4 unknowns.

one from last year that I recently put in a 5 gal bucket. Poor thing, the pot got knocked over about 20 times, dog gnawed on it. For got to water it in 110 degree heat. BUT its still kickin!!

One from my dad from a really old tree in Palestine, TX. I didn't think this one was going to root, but it has the most vigorous roots of all my cuttings now.

and 2 other unknowns my mom brought back from Arkansas from her recent visit. They came from my grandmother's friend whose late husband planted the trees 15 yrs ago. I did finally get a root on one of them.

The one unknown that I really really want to get has been in our family for 60+ yrs. The tree is in AR unprotected and neglected. My mom didn't get a chance to get any cuttings this trip, but hopefully next trip. Its something I think of like a family heirloom (to me at least).

I like the idea of unknowns. You never know what your gonna get. Might be something good (or not) but I like the mystery of it :)

Jenn!  You nailed it!  It's the mystery!  We love the unknowns because the story could end in "murder" or "a new kingdom!!"  We like to plant and watch and wait.  We hope for the new kingdom, but we know it might end up in murder.  We just hope the murder doesn't occur during rooting stage, prior to us tasting figs from our unknowns!

Suzi

All of mine are unknowns.  I have yellow, green, brown, black, and purple that people have identified as something and I have them labeled as such, but truth be known, I am not smart enough to know any better.

I do not ask my trees for their pedigrees, as they did not ask for mine.

I am really a "haver" not a collector so I really don't care beyond a simple curiosity.  I only ask that they be strong enough to overcome my misdeeds, produce figs, and survive our marginal weather.

those of you that have "known" me for a while should remember that this is Danny's home for unwanted, under performing, ugly figs, I turn none away.

There is a very common name for fig trees found around here, when I have asked the owner, "what kind of fig is that?" the most common answer is...."A good'un, been having that tree for a long time".
there was one guy that said " it's one of those big ugly blue figs, I hate it, I want a Brown Turkey"  I don't know what it is either, but it lives here now, and he has a Brown Turkey, we are both happy.

I haven't counted how many unknowns I have, but I seem to have a habit of converting "knowns" to "unknowns" by posting pictures of them on this forum!!!!  I'll post pictures of, say, a Hardy Chicago, and everyone will invariably say "That's not Hardy Chicago!  We don't know what it is, but we know it isn't Hardy Chicago!" ;-)  I was happy in my ignorance!  (Not that I'm not happy to know that they aren't what they are...or were.)
Jim

dirtexas, you got street smarts, and that's all that counts!

Please cross your fingers for that pink thing unknown I got recently!  I have seen red interiors, yellow interiors, peach interiors, but never pink! 

I WILL this unknown to grow!

Hey how are those crazy wine grape vines doing?

Vines have a mind of their own, and they do need taming!

Suzi

@Suzi - we had about 100% rooting of the grapes, waiting to see how many survive the winter.

Danny, grapes are like figs!  Weeds!

Amazing we are all so much in awe of weeds!

Oh, I have a weed that sent us to emergency... Well it looked like an Amaranthus, big and the leaves were tasty, until I sauteed a bunch of them in garlic and we were in heaven until we couldn't see with fuzzy eyes and muscle cramps.  Yep the emergency truck helped us into their abode while they gave us an IV to clear out the poison. 

Just be clear.  DO NOT THINK A LARGE WEED IS EDIBLE!

Suz

All of my figs are unknown.  I only have 2 well-established in-ground bushes, which are 40 years old.  The figs are delicious.  We had perfect fig weather in 2013, and I harvested my best crop ever - over 900 figs from the 2 bushes.  I dried a lot of them, and have been enjoying them all winter. 

Bob - S Central PA

Rich - Attached is a picture of the figs.  They are pink on the inside.  I gave them winter protection for the first 25 years using wire cages filled with shredded oak leaves.  I stopped doing that 15 years ago.  I honestly don't think the winter protection made much difference on the survivability of the old growth.  If we had an exceptionally cold winter I lost a lot of old growth whether protected or unprotected.  It did make a difference on damage from the rabbits, however.  We had a heavy snow pack this winter, and the rabbits chewed a lot of bark from the bushes.  I won't have such a large crop this year. 

Bob

@Bob -Your picture look a lot like my Smith, never been quite sure what mine is but that was what someone told me it was.

I have 8 unknowns but have yet to get fruit from any as they were planted this last year.

So many fig unknowns with their own story. 

Many times the story and new fig character becomes the name (i.e. paradiso).

11  unknowns.  Many of my unknowns are better performers than my knowns.  The unknowns come with a story the majority of the time and are usually free.