Thanks to WillsC, I am now a new member to this forum. I am an avid gardener, especially when it comes to edibles. I have a 2 acre yard located in Central Florida that contains a 25' x 70' veggie garden and a variety of fruiting trees/plants. Of course, a few of my fruiting trees are figs. We also have some chickens for eggs and a few beehives.
As to my background with figs, I bought a Celeste at a local farmers market about 26 years ago. When I moved to my present home 14 years ago I propagated several plants from my original. I have been growing those Celeste with great results ever since. Over time I have grown several other varieties, but none were as good as my Celeste. I removed all of the other varieties and figured that was it.
WillsC has pointed out to me through our other mutual forum, GardenWeb (Florida), that there are hundreds of varieties of figs that grow well and taste good here in Florida. What really got my attention is that I discovered that there are early, mid-season, and late-season fig varieties. I never realized this because the other varieties that I had tried all ripened at about the same time. With input from those of you reading this, I would like to learn what varieties to consider adding to my yard to extend the fig picking season. :)
As I acquire desirable varieties of figs, I would like to provide fig cuttings and/or plants to others in this fig forum when the trees get large enough to prune.
WillsC asked me to mention what I have to trade. Well, presently, all I can think of is that I have a lot of banana plants. Most of them are NamWa, a very good variety for zone 9a. A mature NamWa can handle temps in the low 20s without freezing to the ground which allows it to fruit better than most other varieties grown in this area. The fruits are ladyfinger size.
Also, I start two good tasting varieties of papaya plants in the fall. I often have extra seedlings of those.
I have been reading some of yours posts already and I can see that you are truly fig enthusiasts!
Christine