You are going to be the ruin of me.
First let me introduce myself. David here, I go by the handle of warrior (from "my" river back home in AL) on most of the forums I'm on and by my patrinymic (mcleod) on GW. I found GW while scheming and planning just what I am going to do on my .58 acres here in GA. I am a fruitnut and just knew I required apples, pears, peaches, grapes, muscadines, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, plus a fig or two.
Of the other fruits I am quite familiar having grown up around them but figs were always of the unknown variety. I just knew that there were differences and that some were better than others. I love a good fig but lacked the knowledge to select a good variety or two. So I began to read and read. I have read every page the GW FF. Imagine my amazement that even within the "named" varieties figs vary in quality but from the descriptions it seems that the search for the perfect fig is an ongoing quest for most of you. Care if I join in that quest?
Here's my thing, I set out to select the best two or three varieties for planting here but I learn that first I need to sample as many as I can (sampling figs, oh the horror of it ;) ) so I plan on obtaining cuttings and growing them out and see what I find out.
BTW, a thourough study of this site resulted in a list of 20 that have my interest.

Welcome.
I thought uh oh when i first read the "Message Subject" I hate you folks!
anyways 20 types have your interest , in time i think that number may go up some as your finding out its an addiction even for someone like me that does not have a lot of space to store them .
Great first post Warrior and look forward to seeing down the road some pictures perhaps one day.

If I had found this site earlier I would have posted the one fig that I do have to see if my guess is right. I believe it to be a celeste but am not sure. It is unfortunately not to my liking. Fair flavor, and not as productive as I would like. It is a 8' tall bush that produced about a half gallon of fruit for both the breba and main. Preserves cook down to a mush (I like my fig preserves to have figs in it). It is also situated almost directly on top of my septic tank which has earned it an unprintable "varietal" name.

Hi David!  Fellow Georgian here.  Where are you hailing in from?

I agree with you on Celeste.  The flavor of the ginormous blue celeste down the street from me has decent flavor, juicy, sweet, but only half as rich as I normally like.  My Brown Turkey is more watery, and not rich at all.

Personally, in the past, I have traditionally liked darker figs, with red to dark brown insides.  And, like you, well....see my wish list.  That was the result of reading around and poring over the variety database that you'll find at the F4F site.

At any rate, glad to see more GA folk here!

Sunnyside on the Henry/Spalding county line.

Wow!  Way down there!

Only other fig nut I recently remember talking to directly from GA (that I recall) lives up in Dawsonville.  He seems to have a great collection too, so I think there is a definite friendship potential there, hehe.

Doesn't Ray Givan live somewhere down there (south of I-16, between I-75 and 95?)

EDIT: nevermind, looks like he may be in Rincon, GA, just north of Savannah (my 'other' favorite GA city)

These have caught my eye.

Beall
Black Jack
Black Madeira
Black Mission
Violette de Bordeaux
Brunswick
Col de Fame
Dauphine
Violette Dauphine
Kadota
Excel
Hardy Chicago
Hunt
Italian 258
LSU Gold
LSU Purple
Nero
Reculver
Osborne Prolific

Jason, maybe we could get together sometime and compare notes. I also keep a vegatable garden year round. Currently have cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, collards, greens, english peas, onions and garlic.
I have to have something edible growing most all of the time.

Your message heading was very harsh, it worried me until I read your post. Welcome here. I wish you the best of luck with your fig endeavors.  Ciao  

Welcome David. That was a catchy headline to announce your arrival. Your are on your way as the next fignut. Add EL Sals, Marseillies VS & Hollier to your want list and you could be in fig heaven. Of course there are other good ones like Atreano, Paradiso, I-258, etc. The list goes on & on .....have fun. Really addictive.

See what I mean. Already adding to my list, so many figs so little time. LOL

Hi Warrior, welcome to fig confusion. Your unknown that you think may be a Celeste I have a question about in that you say they cook to a mush when preserving. Doesn't sound like any celeste I've ever had. The figs always stay "whole" when preserved unless you purposely mash them for jam. You may want to investigate that variety further(just sounds like it must be something else).Post some pictures when you can.

I am guessing at this point further research sheds some doubt on my guess. Others report light to no breba, mine had both crops about the same amount, and a photo of leaves on another post do not match what I have.

Hi Warrior, I forgot to mention that my Celeste never has a breba crop. 

This is it in late May. I had already pulled a couple dozen off of it. Note the fresh dirt to the right, that's my septic tank. The garden is in the back.





These were taken today. They have already had a couple light frost to hit them so they aren't ripe. Ripe color was bronze with slght cracking and the interior was a brighter shade of the same.













All guesses would be appreciated.

Flavor was only fair. Sweet but not powerfully so, not rich either.

Hi David,

Welcome. There a few figaholics from georgia around. My (regular, not mega) celeste doesn't have a breba crop and makes decent preserves, just has very small figs. MegaCeleste (Lowes variety) makes great preserves and figs definitely stay whole (no breba).  Your list is ambitious, but I do have a few that I will be trimming in about a month.

Scott

The second crop was late Aug-into Sept with these coming on after so I guess it had three crops.

Warrior thats a healthy looking plant thanks for shareing pictures.
If you like to root scion Jon the moderator here has all the plant scion you need to fill your list probably for a decent price .
He list the varieities in February and there are quite a few.
You think you are getting the fig bug now wait till you see his list , in mean time click his link top left of forum if you have not already and go to his site and look around for the variety page and list figs from a-z and then you will really get the bug !
Also Scott who just posted is a great person to deal with as well and i think is in your state .

Well, like yours, my BT is still going, even after these near-freezing temps the last few days.  In the pictures below - some leaves just started yellowing after the last couple days of late-night freeze.  But note, the little bugger doesn't seem to care and is still setting fruit that will no dobt never ripen.

You can see the wonderful round yellow leaves to the left (fothergilla mt. airy) and the burgundy oakleaf hydrangeas back and to the right.  everything is changing, dropping leaves except this fig.

Maybe it's because it's on the full-shaded north side of my house?