Very tasty fig, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

@Dennis
>>> There is another fig out there called Italian 88.  I'm on the hunt for that one.
I just happen to have a small rooted Italian 88 if you still want it.
BTW, I think that my Valle Negra is kaput.

@Harvey
Tell the story about the Italian 253...

I do have a small rooted Italian 253 and Italian 358 too; if anybody wants them.
All were short cutting remnants I got from Jon.
The pic below shows them, left to right, Italian 88, 253 and 358 little plants.

Thanks for posting the photos, Dennis (finally! lol).  Your leaves look similar to what's on Jon's variety list but it's clearer from yours to see that what I bought is not correct.  Mine have deeply lobed leaves. :(

George, the jury is still out on Italian 253.  There is a chance that it is actually Italian 258 that someone misread a tag and then labeled 253.  I need to go back out into my orchard now and compare my 253 to Dennis's leaves.  Prusch Park is the only place that has a tree marked on their map as 253 and has been the source for cuttings for others but there is no 253 on the list of Italian varieties so it is probably a mix-up of some sort.  We still need to confirm with Todd Kennedy because I don't know if the list of Italian varieties put out by the Golden Gate chapter of CRFG is complete.  I'll have more time to work on this detective stuff once chestnut season is over.

Unless I see someone come up with some good results from Italian 88, I would not bother unless I just wanted it for rootstock.  It is the most vigorous fig tree at Prusch Park and it produces a lot of very bland figs that would convince everyone that Martin is right about sticking with dark figs. ;)  There must have been some reason Todd Kennedy decided to import it, but neither I or "posturedoc" saw even a hint of such evidence when we tried it a month ago.

Just took some photos.  My Italian 253 looks closer to your leaves (except mine are still green! lol) than does my supposed Italian 258.

253 started beginning of year, planted a couple of months ago:





The supposed Italian 258 I bought:

@geroge
George, I'll take the Italian 253 and Italian 358. I'll send you an email. Just quote your price plus shipping.

Thanks !

@harvey, your I258 isn't i258. It might be Valle Negra!

Mike, I'll ping Maggie. Thanks!

All my 3 (free) Italian.nnn little fig starters have been spoken for (in good hands).
The good news for me - I need not pot-up and winter them...

Thought I'd confirm Harvey's assessment of I-88: not worth the space it takes up. If there is a worse fig at Prusch, I'd be very surprised (not all had ripe figs when we visited a few weeks ago). I can't imagine it's one of those figs that is magically better in different growing conditions.

Like Harvey, I'm working on the I 253 mystery. I hope to have something to report sometime soon.

Dennis and Harvey -- I agree with Dennis' suggestion that the one in Harvey's photo labeled "supposed Italian 258" might actually be Valle Negra.  The leaves look close.  (There are others that it could be as well... for example I have an Aubique Petite that made leaves just like that last year, though this year they look like more typical Aubique Petite leaves.  Leaves are just so variable you can't really conclude based on leaves).  Anyway, those leaves look like possible Valle Negra to me.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

Poor Italian 88 fig!!!

Desc: "IT 88 - Yellow, very vigorous. Patrick Schafer(PS) says these are worthless, buggy & watery"

I do wonder where and in what local micro-climate it did blossom and how/why...