I was finally able to contact Josie, the current owner of this home and fig tree.

The tree was planted not long before her mother Nancy passed away. It was a gift from her mother's friend, a neighbor and was planted before 2006, but she's not completely sure of the date. Its located in a great spot, south facing, Brick building behind to the north, protection on the west side, open on east and south sides. I will be referring to this tree as NancyLight. Josie has not pruned this tree in years, for sentimental reasons, but offered me figs and cuttings (breba are just starting to swell and change color but none were ripe).


I noticed several branches (main trunks) under the canopy (2-1/2 - 3 inch caliper) that were crossing and some that were dying (visible in picture #1) and offered to remove them, which she accepted. Pictured are a few cuttings that were salvaged after the removal of the dying branches. There was no visible impact of the removal of the 2 large caliper branches that were 8-10 feet tall. From personal observations last year, figs start to ripen in July and continue thru September. All the thumbnail pictures below were taken yesterday 7-3-2013
    



This tree has been trained to a tree form, It has not been covered in several years. I have not been able to contact the owner, but have decided to document the tree's progress. It main crop is a small dark fig with a tight eye. In the pictures breba are visible, but not numerous.

Looks like a winner to me. Can't wait to see pics of the fruit. Keep up the good work.

Sanctus Petrus....

Steward of the lost, and forgotten, Ficus carica ... The Protector, Supreme Propagator, Generous Distributor....

Nice find, good pics. 

Just a little hyperbole for July 4th.


Frank



Pete:

Josie may not know how to eat a nice, ripe, breba fig.  I would like to give her some lessons if she wants to learn.  Imitation is the best teacher.

Nice job!

Score!

I stopped by Josie's today on my way home, breba are are all gone, but I was offered as many main crop figs as I wanted, but they were mostly near the top of the tree out of my reach. I picked one that was about 6 feet from the ground. I took some pictures and then ate it.

It was the sweetest fig that I have tasted this year. It could have used a day or two more, but it was extremely sweet, creamy (not quite rich) with very little seed crunch. I'll be stopping back next week with a ladder : )

I passed by the unknown dark fig tree today, so I decided to update this topic and take a few pictures.
The figs are swollen larger than normal and the eyes have opened slightly due to the large volume of rain lately. There are a few figs that have dried on the tree, even with all the rain.

The fig has a very mild fig taste, is sweet with a berry flavor, and has a surprising tangy, not sharp nor complex after taste.

Pete,
I don't know how you find all these cool trees but could you pass just a little of your fig sniffer my way?
The dark looks delicious.

Tami,
As with some things its "Location, Location, Location". These locations are or were ethnic neighborhoods where families settled and brought their heritage and trees. If you walk through any of these neighborhoods throughout the country you'll find many "heritage" plants.

Progress pictures of the Nancy Light / Italian Honey mother tree before and after pruning, it was severely pruned to  reduce the height and to remove the dead branches due to die back from this past winter.

Several of the new shoots in today's picture have a caliper larger than 1".
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