So,there is a seller from Wales on U.K eBay who sells lots of plants,amongst many things they sell are figs.Some of the names of the varieties they have on offer I had never heard of so I asked for more information. Knowing from the listing that they were selected from Eastern Europe I asked for the variety names in the native language(Hungarian).
The seller was very gracious and informative with their response (always a good sign) but I still have not heard much or anything about some of these varieties other than from that seller.I have had some positive feedback from another member about the plants being of good quality,and having checked out their website
( http://treeonlinenursery.co.uk/produce_all_view.php/en/ )it does seem like a worthy little operation,but it doesn't help inform my varietal choices.If these are Unknowns I think I am reaching my limit on those for now.
The seller provided the following info about her varieties:
1. Babits - selected in Hungary (from the garden of a famous poet, Mihaly Babits, in the early 1900s), large, sweet, red, flesh, brown skin, very good cropper and very frost tolerant
2. Nero del Portogallo - old Iberian variety, small but very sweet fruits, dark skin and flesh
3. Sultane - large, brown skin, dark red flesh
4. Flat ('Pogacsa' - hungarian selection) - flattened fruits, medim sized, dark skin + flesh
5. Ice ('Jég'- hungarian selection) - large fruits, dark blue skin and red flesh, very good cropper
6. Italian brown ('Olasz Barna' - Italian selection) - medium sized fruits, brown outside and inside (when ripe)
7. Fingered giant ('Ujjas Oriás' - hungarian selection) - ornamental, deeply lobed foliage, large, red fleshed fruits
8. Green good cropper ('Zold aszalódó' - hungarian selection)- green fleshed, large fruited
9. Cigar (similar to Longue d''Aout) ('Szivar' or 'Banana' - origin unknown) - elongated, almost black skinned fruit, very sweet
10. Pedro (Yellow) - originated from Croatia - yellow skin, greenish yellow flesh, small-medium sized fruits old Croatian variety
11. Signora - old Spanish variety, large fruited, it can fruit twice, very cold tolerant
1 I am aware of,2,3 and 11 are known varieties,I think 10 is probably San Pietro, and I read of a variety called cigar on the forum once(can't remember who/where),4 was discussed once on the forum before,but that was in response to a question asked about the same variety from the same seller and didn't get far, 5-8 I have never heard of anywhere else.
The plants this seller offers are great value,I am definitely going do get Sultane and intend to plant it in ground but I'm very tempted by the mysterious Hungarian varieties as they should grow really well here as were 1-2 zones warmer.
Has anyone heard of variety 4-9? ,anyone out there growing them?,