Good day, here are a few pictures of a few figs I picked this morning.  Man oh Man were they good!  We ate them before I could snap a photo of the interior.  All were red except for the Marseilles.

Plate one contains Marseilles, Blue Celeste, and Marseilles Black

Plate two contains Votata, Ronde de Bourdeaux, Improved Celeste, and Stella

The sweetest and richest in order were:  Blue Celeste, Improved Celeste, Ronde De Bourdeaux, Votata, Stella, and Marseilles, and MB coming in last in order of sweetness.. 
Marseilles had a honey dew melon taste but it was sweet with crunchy seed.  I can not get over how sweet Improved Celeste and Blue Celeste is!  These figs taste like candy!  For some reason, there were no birds in the area.  I think the hawks were circling because usually I have mocking bird near my trees.  All these trees are in containers except RdB and Marseilles.  Those in the ground are four foot tall and 3 years old.  The others are in containers and 2 years old.  enjoy!

Hey snag, it sure is hard to stop long enough to take pictures when you've waited a whole year.  I'm glad to hear that the O'Rourke rates high in your book, I did taste one off my tree and it was good but then again it only 1 year old and I only had one fig.
Thanks for the pictures and the post.
"gene"

Hey Dennis, Thats a plate full of goodness!I can't wait to taste my O'Rourke---I just received it from Bass. Thanks for sharing. Tim

Hey Gene, I can't say enough good things about Improved Celeste.  That is one sweet fig and the skin is very soft.  The fruit sags and turn yellow when ripe.  Stupid birds can't tell they are ripe but the tree is very sensitive just like a Celeste.  I made a mistake today and took some to work and shared them with my coworkers.  Everybody wanted the Improved Celeste fig!  Even those that did not get any heard about the Improved Celeste! 

Tim, it was hard to take those pictures!  I did not know Bass had Improved Celeste!  Hey, he's been holding out on me!  I got mine from Dalton Durion.  That fig was so good, I ordered another one.  Mine is 4 feet tall and it exploded in growth.  I was going to plant mine in the ground this Fall but think I'm going to just repot it in a large 30 gallon container.  Thanks for watching, cheers.

Hi Dennis,

I'm surprised to see the shape of the O'Rourke fig, but see that it doesn't look like an Improved Celeste to me.  I had some ICs last year and they were very good, but were more blocky.  They were delicious, too. 

Why do so many places that list figs say the two figs are the same, when it doesn't look like they are?  Is this just an ongoing debate about them?

Vivian

Dennis congrats on that real nice plate of figs, It is nice that you have so many different varieties that you can compare the different  flavors and quality

Thanks Sal!  I've got Alma, SMith, Black Madeira, Negronne, and other coming soon. 

Say Vivian, according to Dalton's web site, Improved Celeste is listed in the name in parentheses. I guess that's why its called O'Rourke.  It is a long fig and just about every fig on my tree looks the same.  All these different names does confuse me sometime.  However, I can see how easy it is to loose idenfication for a tree.  I bought a 3 year Hunt and Smith fig in January.  I placed an aluminum tag on it and yesterday I noticed the tree had grown so much that it popped the tag.  So, I relabeled it twice and repositioned the lables.  How bout those figs!!!!
 

For all the discussions about gadgets, gizmos and other thinks to keep birds away from the figs, perhaps all we need to do is keep dead critters in the yard so the hawks are always overhead.

~james

Dennis, I don't think Bass was holding out on you---I've noticed he updates his available list fairly often, so keep watch.

 I have O'Rourke fom JR, but it doesn't have the fingered leaves so, that's why I ordered it from Bass to grow side by side to compare.

James, great idea, I guess I'll have to start keeping chickens again. I don't think the wife would put up with dead animals,lol.

i got to get me a blue celeste :). 

Good day, wanted to follow-up on a thread I started 2 years ago on Votata.  My Votata turned out to be one of those excellent tasting figs!  Mine came from JM.  It was tiny when I got it but grew some last year.  I misspelled the name in the picture.  It should be spelled Votata.  Now I see why it is called Golden Honey.  It truly taste like juicy sweet honey but not as sweet as White Triana.  It has a mellow mild flavor and I can pick this fig out in a blind taste test.  My figs got much larger after I planted it in the ground.  I did not fertilize much last year but will increase it this year.  The picture shows the size in comparison to my Atreano which is a large fig.  The eye is open on Votata but don't let that discourge you.  For a green fig, this fig has an awesome flavor and it's hard to just eat one!  If you don't have one, then by all means....GET ONE!!!

cheers,

Dennis,

I have one too but hasn't fruited for me yet.

Can you say this would be something Martin would enjoy?

Thanks for sharing.

dennis,

wow.. fig already? after i collect what i want, i need to start looking into really early ones.

pete

Hi Dennis,
 Thanks for posting pictures of the Votata. I was curious if anyone had tasted this fig so it was nice of you to share your experience. Besides the Votata & WT have you had a chance to try the La Goccia D'Oro yet? I hope to get a few figs from my young plant this year (keeping my fingers crossed lol)

 Pete

Dennis, what is your source on Blue Celeste?

La Goccia D'or, Votata, and White Triana some of the sweetest green figs I've ever eaten!  Got 2 monster LGDs and WT.  Need to get more Votatas...they are that good!

My Blue Celeste came from Herman2 years ago.

Wimper, wimper. You are being cruel and unusual to those of us who will be lucky to get any fresh figs this year. It's threads like this that make wish lists go exponential. I gotta gettum.

Nom Nom nom!