Today the wife and I were on a long, leisurely drive when we decided to stop at a nursery. It was in a high-end housing area, a really nice looking place. As we strolled about we enjoying just looking at their really nice, really expensive landscaping trees ($300+). Then I spotted a few fig trees off to the side, kind of out of the way.

These were all 5+ ft tall, but in small 4 gal pots. They were Italian Black and LSU Yellow -- marked only 24.99 each! I could not believe it. These were really good looking trees, lots of new growth. I snagged one of each. They barely fit in the car, I had fig trees sticking up between us almost to the windshield. But we got them home. I will post some pics tomorrow since it is dark now.

Does anyone know what size to expect from these two varieties? I have a few choices of where to place them, and expected size will play a part in deciding their in ground home. I know I can prune them to whatever size, but I would like to know their typical size if anyone knows about these varieties.

Also, I would love to know anything about "Italian black" as I cannot find much about it on the net. They came from a "Star Nursery" in Belle Chasse, LA.

Congrats, you almost always find the best things when you weren't really looking for them.

This is from Durio Nurseries website.
"Italian Black - Yet another heirloom fig grown by the Becnel family of Belle Chasse, Louisiana for over 100 years.  It has almost jet black fruit with deep red pulp."

You have to really like something to grow it for over 100 years.

Nice score!!

^5 Gene, nicely done!
I have an Italian Black started from a log I got from Tim last year, it's over 7 feet tall and seems to want to grow in bush form. We are fighting over form right now and the tree "bush" is winning.

yupe. i heard great things about Italian Black. also heard Native Black is good one. good catch. i would jump on it too if they sell them around here. 

Congrats... post some pics!

Here are the two of them against a 6ft fence:
 
And here is a close-up of the branching on the Italian Black:
 
The one on the right is the LSU Gold. It is a little tall and gangly for me, but I will wait to cut it back until the fall. I want all the possible figging branches I can for this year. I also pinched the young limbs back to 6 leaves, probably 10-12 already that long on the two of them. If the weather holds, my son and I will plant them this afternoon.

I am really excited about these since 2 of my three inground trees died to the ground this winter. I was looking at a pretty fig-poor season, but these two should help bring up the fig count a lot. Also, I have heard lots of good things about the LSU Gold for my area so I am really looking forward to trying some of them.

Very nice!  I'm jealous!

very nice. looks like my CdDN.. top heavy :) i have to pick up CdDN every other day from wind knocking it down.. and i thought i was only one drinking in the house. 

Great Finds, Congratulations. Need to put the Italian Black on my wish list. Just picked up a LSU Gold and they have big fruit, if I remember right.

Congrats - good for you - good luck growing them!

Enjoy their fruit.  Even as a young plant LSU Gold produced a lot of great tasting figs.

Gene, nice score for sure. If you are having the winds like everyone else, do you trees a favor and drive 3 stakes and tie the tree to stop the wind from loosing the rootball.
"gene'

I got both of them in the ground today. One in a "clean" spot, the other where I had a BT that died back to the ground. Both are bedded in nicely, mulched and staked. I soaked them 3 gal of Miracle Grow and 3 gal of manure tea. I am looking forward to trying my first of these figs later in the year. I'll post more pics when they get bigger.

i'm happy for you, gene. best of luck with the pretty trees.

Fine job Gene! We have a local nursery here that carries Italian Black and also a fig that just says Tiger Fig on the tag. I assume it's LSU Tiger. I've been on the fence about buying any more plants but I could probably be convinced if some one could post a report on Italian Black. I'm sure it's a good fig for the Gulf Coast but I don't want a good fig, I want a few outstanding ones!

Hi GeneDaniels,
That is a nice find. The trees look so nice for the price .