I have mentioned before i am doing a hedge of hardy chicago. i am doing two hedges in all running north to south on the east side of my land. in these hedges i would like to put in figs that need no or little winter protection. right now i have in ground without protection desert king, purple magnolia,
?brownturkey?, blue celest and hady chicago here in sone 6b illinois. winters just have no been what they use to be. I was thinking of VdB, or MvsB. any advice would be great. thank you for looking and any help you may have.

Dave

Yes Marseilles black vs is hardier than Hardy Chicago here,and more productive ,but by just looking at the plant,it is very similar to HC,when comparing fruits and leaf.
One much hardier cultivar is Florea,i can guaranty it ,that when HC is dead to ground Florea is all live and well in the Spring.

Thank you herman,  my single florea cutting didnt make it but i do have a few MvsB going strong. my hardy chicago has not been winter killed at all here at my location (knock on wood) i am hoping that thw weather will be good enough to start on my hedge project by mid april (last frost around april 15th in years past but who knows anymore)

I am putting most of my eggs in the MBvs basket. So far it seems even with Sal's for hardiness but is better tasting in cold weather. I cannot tell the leaves apart but the fruit looks different, sometimes, and the taste is different. I actually prefer Sal's in warm weather but that is because I have a sweet tooth.

p.s. VdB is not very hardy for me.

ok so MvsB, and Sal's, would that be sal's c , sal's g, or both that would be hardy?

Sal's C could never be confused with MBvs. Sal's (gene) and EL, MBvs, HC, Gino's, Black Bethlehem, Takoma Violet, and others, are all in a class or family of figs from Mt. Etna and they all have a rough leaf texture and characteristic leaf shape. I can't say about Sal's C for hardiness because it is not planted out yet like several MBvs and Sal's that have been out since this spring. Checked them today and there is damage but roughly equal and not severe.

Nordland/Northland is the variety that I think is the most cold hardy if you can find it, I have been looking for it for the last 3 or 4 years and no luck yet.

Jose in Ottawa

I got sal's c cuttings from a forum member that grows them up by NY and said they are cold hardy. all in all i think this hedge just might turn out great after all.

Jose,
Adriano has nordland on his website.
Here is his description:

Northland (Nordland Bergfeige)
A sweet, reddish very rare, cold hardy variety fig
from Switzerland.Excellent for cold climate.
On a protected area, it can stand the temperature
of -10°c to -14°c.

Yes but i dont think he ships to the usa due to customs and stuff like that. I would like to find that one myself. maybe Jon has one. I am not sure, but its worth looking into.

I've never gotten figs from Raintree but they seem to have a very good reputation among stone fruit growers. I got 2 plums from them and was very pleased. They have Norland listed.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/NordlAnd_Fig.html

I thought Ronde De Bordeaux was also very cold hardy, right?
Suzi

Suzi i dont have RdB planted outside yet but i do have a cuttings going. well 2 but not sure if the other one will make it but hoping.

thanx for info on the norland fig i will be getting a couple here in the next month or 2.

Yes RDB is good. Also Dark Portuguese, Bisirri Dark and Light, Latarolla, Latarulla too, Jh Adriatic is pretty hardy, but maybe Herman can tell us if that would work for you. Honestly I don't think you will be happy with Sal's C as it is very late here and you are in a colder zone, not by much, but still colder. I have one in ground and am very happy with it but still it leaves me with unripened figs every fall when the first frost comes. Guess it's been in ground nearly 5 years.

Due to the cool September and October,here ,this year,JH Adriatic did not ripe ,most of fruits this year,only a few got ripe,so in a colder zone the cultivar can be late in ripening.
It seem hardy,but my tree is not old enough,to live it without protection,so I am not prepared to say it is hardy,in colder than 7 zone ,at this time, and not sure thing,to be planted in ground outside.
My Ronde de Bordeaux is also too young to judge if it is as hardy as Marseilles black vs ,or Florea,at this point in time.I know it is hardy,but how hardy,only time will tell.

Sammy

I have tried Adriano several times and he never responded to me.

Jose in Ottawa

Jenni:Your climate is dry in Summer and Florea will make delicious fruits ,in it.
Not only that but it will ripe 2 weeks before any other fig I know.
Florea is a problem only in climates with a lot of rain in the Summer,like here in NJ.

Wooh hoo florea! I am so ready.

GW i did put my elder Hardy Chicago inground and protected it with a portable green house no mulch or anything this season .
Future seasons i do not plant to protect the tree , it has no walls for protection as it's planted in open area once the portable comes off for good.

 1 of these winters we will get a cold spell like a few years back were it got down to 23 below zero followed by 18 below here in my neck of the woods in Illinois and i doubt any fig tree would have survived for that week if i recall correctly the highest it got during the day was like 3 above.
An airlayer was made in case.

But then 1 does not really know unless they try right ?

well martin i know when i got my HC from hirts garden (i think they are by chicago but i may be wrong) they said it could freez to the ground and be 100% top killed and still come back and produce a crop the same year. thats why i got it.

I have been doing some research on this norland fig and from what i have read it can survive -10 or more. i am planning on adding some to my collection.

some of the figs in NYC have survived down to -3 in the past 20 years (a ton of them look to be at least that old). this season it will just be a matter of Identifying what varieties they are.

Hey Dave, if you would like to carry out a trial without wasting any time you can plant the trees at a half spacing and alternate varieties, for example: HC-MBvs-HC-Sal's-HC-Florea-HC-RdB. Then after a few years when things are getting crowded you can do some digging and plant another row if they were all good or put some in pots or propagate more trees from the trees that did well.