I have 2 small areas against a Chain link fence that i would like to plant 2 figs and need help finding an appropriate variety that can be kept very small and can be grown in central California.
Actually we have 3 areas to plant figs in but one area I already planted a violette de bourdeax fig and it seems to be doing well. The other 2 spots I planted 2 dwarf brown turkeys from a garden direct website but after 3 years the figs just drop off and look horrible. So I am thinking to take the 2 brown turkeys out because they are still only about 2 feet tall. So I want to take them out this year and plant 2 different figs there. We want to keep the fig bushes about 5 feet tall maximum and about 6 feet long but only about 3 feet wide. Is there any variety that is tolerant of pruning and is a small grower and maybe self fertile and grows well in California? I was looking at starkbros website and they have lsu purple and gold figs that say they grow to about 8-10 feet I was thinking we could keep them around under 5 feet. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please thanks

Keep them in pots to restrict growth or prune heavily every winter for height control

We want to plant them in the ground because it gets very hot here in the summer. Is there any variety that is good for this and can keep smaller? I saw the lsu purple grows to about 8 feet high. Maybe this is a good variety that could be kept at about 5 feet high? Or any other ones?

You can prune them to any height and width you want.  Any fig will do well for you as long as they get full sun.  I would recommend 2 figs that are different than your VdB.  A lot depends on your budget and how long you want to wait.  Panache is easy to get and tastes great. Members here Harvey C in Iselton (NW of Stockton), Pitangadiego in San Diego and Bass in PA have lots of varieties they sell.  I believe they all ship, too.  You can do a member search and find some growers near you.

Many people try to get a variety of flavors.  One way of dividing figs in to flavor groups is listed here

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/fig-groups-comments-welcomed-6530525

That might help you choose your other 2 figs as well.

If you have the money, buy a Galicia Negra  :)

  Welcome to the forum, Sas-.    I'm north of you a tad... just above Sac.  Even with our unending sunshine during the summer, my VdB has remained under 4' for years, so it should serve your purpose well.  I second the Galicia Negra recommendation, as it and a third cultivar: Hative de Argenteuil are naturally dwarfing plants due to very small root foundations, but are terrific tasting figs.  This slow-rooting trait has a downside though...  you should get established plants of these varieties, as they are notorious for being obstinate rooters to try to start from cuttings.

Hi Saskatoon,

Welcome to the forum !
Did you water and fertilize your trees ?
If those spots do lack water, fertilizer and/or sun, whatever you plant there is doomed to fail ...
BT droping figs ... I want to see that ! So you just had some random unknown fig ... Sorry for that bad experience ...
Are you in a standard Californian Zone, or in the coldest part of California ?
In the standard Californian Zone, provided that you water the trees, you should have great harvest whatever you plant.
But, stick to the known and well tested strains. Col de dame Gris, noir, or Blanc - Noir de Caromb - Preto - Black madeira - one of the whatever BT (BT, Califonian BT ... ) , Desert King , Longue d'aout ...
You have a lot of choices ...

Definitively, take the time to drive to one nursery and choose the tree yourself .

I decided to try one lsu purple because I read a lot of Poeople posted that they were one of the best Figs and they were easy to find online.
The spot we are planting in is very sunny. I think zone 9. The lsu purple said it grows 8-10 feet online so hopefully it won't be too hard to keep it around 5 feet.

I wouldn't recommend buying from Stark Brothers Nursery. I ordered an LSU Purple and an LSU Gold from them last year and they were mis-labeled. The people on the fig board were able to help me ID them finally. The LSU Gold turned out to be the LSU Purple and we never figured out what the LSU Purple labeled tree was but the fruit weren't very good. I contacted Starks and after a few months and several phone calls, emails, they finally replaced the LSU Gold tree. Only time will tell if it really is the correct tree or not.
I also sent Stark emails with digital pictures of the leaves and figs from each tree and asked for help in identifying them. Customer Service said they forwarded them to the nursery, but the nursery never returned their emails. I got the impression that the nursery and customer service weren't speaking to each other. 
Rolling River Nursery online is a better place to order fig trees if you want larger size, health trees that are usually what they're supposed to be. I'm sure other people can recommend other nurseries as well, but RR is one of my favorites for big, healthy fig trees. 

For online ordering I would recommend Trees of Antiquity.  Penache is an excellent tree for your area but very vigorous and a large tree.  If you want multiple trees, I would recommend an earlier variety, mid season variety and late variety.  I think this is more important than tree size, which can be controlled by pruning.  I took 8 feet off my Black Mission and King figs this winter and pruned to ankle size.  They are growing back nicely now.

Black Jack is a very nice little tree. It is sold all over Californian nurseries.
Ischia White is on a smaller side too and is not black, if you want variety.

The Start Here thread may help

https://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Best-figs-at-your-location-4800578