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My wish list?

What do ya's think of it?  Basically got on a nursery website where my LSU Purple and Tiger were purchased and went through checking for grow zone 7 at least.  Some good to zone 6.  I have a big yard with lots of open places and insatiable curiosity.  :) 

Recommendations for any more you think may do well here are welcome and/or any advice or against any I have listed.  Thanks!

What is your goal? To have them all different or collect the figs best growing in your area regardless if they were different?
I.e. , do you need an Improved Celeste if you are happy with your Celeste?
Have you found that the LSU Tiger and Champagne are different enough for you? Same with Kadota and Peter's Honey.

How will I know I'm happy with something I never tried?  Basically I love to experiment and try new things.  Have never eaten a fresh fig so this experience from growing the plants to harvesting that first fig is going to be a great journey I'm sure!    Kind of have this vision of my entire yard bordered with low horizontal espalier branches.  Living fence every year! 

 

I see… I was asking basically if you had a plan?
You could try to collect different figs from the Early, Middle, and Late ripening varieties, light and dark. Are they going to be in the ground? How cold are your winters?
The last winter was very brutal for many people, see what figs survived.  How hot and long are your summers? Some varieties need a lot of heat, and some do not. For example, the Kadota and Brown Turkey are best in long hot climates.

I am not against trying, but the experience could be more rewarding with a little planing. I started growing the figs 1.5 years ago and I wish I’ve done this at the beginning. Now I have many large plants that are either the same or very similar or not significant in any way.

Good luck!

Guess it's sort of like my blackberries in a sense.  Must have tried every available variety at the time and settled with Triple Crown Thornless.  I may try a thousand figs if I live long enough and say I have a favorite in thirty years or so.  

What was it like the first time you ate a fig? 

I live in the Los Angeles area and I could buy sometimes the ripe figs at a store (but they suck) and quite often at the farmer’s markets when in the season.
The berry figs (like the Strawberry Verte/VdB/Negronne) taste like a berry jam. Very sweet. The honey types (like a Kadota/Peter’s Honey) are very different, they are like honey/maple syrup. 
I would search the forum for the list of varieties that do well in your zone, you do not have to reinvent the wheel :)

I did search quite a bit on the forum.  Can't help it, I want to try them all haha :) 

Whats up Charlie! If you grow them in pots you can have all the varieties you want! Its a lot more work but will feed the obsession. Im doing that as we speak and have the same idea as you. Im building a new house now and when its done I want to have hedge of different figs boardering my lot. Ive just about got all the varieties I want. Waiting on 2 more varieties and Im done for now!

Hey Rob! Fig hedge will be very cool.  How long did it take to build up your collection?   

LSU Tiger is also known as Giant Celeste which I would think is the same as Mega Celeste on your wish list.

I started spring of 2013 with one LSU Purple which I finally got to taste last week at my fathers house. I rooted a cutting for him and he put his in ground, mine still in a pot. His tree has quite a few figs this year and they were delicious! Didnt really get serious about collecting figs untill around Oct last year. Ive probably lost more varieties to rooting than I actually have now. My list is what survived my attempts at rooting. Ive got most of them from friends here on the forum. Some were ordered from Just Fruits and Exotics and a few from Ebay as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chapman
LSU Tiger is also known as Giant Celeste which I would think is the same as Mega Celeste on your wish list.


Chapman, much appreciated! Edited :)

Hi Charlie,
In zone7, be prepared to protect the trees.
You live in a free country, so go ahead and try as many as you can.
You should try "Longue d'aout", "Dalmatie" - be prepared for my coming post on that one- , "Madeleine des deux saisons", "Sultane", "Pastiliere", "Ronde de Bordeaux", "Violet de Bordeaux", "Panachée" for the stripes ...
To get a head start to your collection, go lurking at the nurseries for "good" sized trees - if you go through cuttings only, you'll have to wait more.
I consider that for 15$ a figtree, it is worth buying ... But for now, I'm still trying cold hardy strains only.

Buy some bags of fertilizer too !
Are you going in pots or in ground ?  Do you have two garages ? You know, an attached FIG-garage !

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