So yesterday I passed by Adriano's place WOW is all I can say. I have never seen so many fig trees in my life let alone in a backyard. The fig that impressed me the most was the Capelas this late in the season and was still very sweet and full of flavour. Adriano's Capelas tree is Huge in height it has to be atleast 12-15ft in height and atleast 8-9 ft wide. He also had a huge Desert King in Ground pretty sure the desert king is even taller than the Capelas and he also had a Hollier In ground that was not as big as the other but a good 8-9 ft tall and bushy also had some of those figs one tasted pretty good. When I was there I felt like a kid in a candy store, very impressed and definately the best sunday I spent this year.

Hi Nelson,

We are glad you got to go by and visit with Adriano.

Did he say he liked the Hollier? I had one from JR but it died on me, I might try to get another one along with a Smith!(next year)

Hi Cecil Yes Adriano likes the Hollier very much I ate a few figs off his plant the first one I ate was not very sweet but had a descent flavour the second one I ate was quite good but no challence compared to the capelas figs.

Ok Thanks Nelson!

I got some cuttings of the Capelas and Hollier after tasting the Capelas I definately wanted that Variety. Also got Violette de Bordeaux got 4 cuttings of the VDB but only have 2 since my dog Cyprus decided he wanted to chew some fig cuttings this morning ohhh that made me angry.

Adrianos Genovese tree is such a beautiful tree its 15 years old and is about 4ft tall but the trunk is like 3 inches thick almost looks like a bonsai type tree so nice.

Nelson,

You gonna fool around and have to buy some acreage up there
for your nice fig collection.

Cecil that would be Ideal my father is planning on buying a hobby farm hopefully that will happen so we can build a greenhouse and grow some nice figs inground.

Tell your Dad to buy the Land, you will furnish the Figs
Tell him you got that brilliant idea from an old folker in Texas
HAHA

Nelson glad to hear you had a good trip and on top of that even got to eat some figs what a nice treat wish you the best of luck with your new cuttings I guess you were itchy again
Sal

Cecil LOL my dad is a Portuguese Country man, Hes been talking about how he misses his land back home for 20 years now and is determined to buy a hobby farm soon. Hes just as crazy about figs as I am in fact when I was a kid my dad would take to work on the land to cultivate when ever we seen fig trees we would climb up that tree and eat as many as we could. Usually feel sick after but it was all good few times my lips cracked from eating unripe figs lol oh the good old days.


Sal I dont know what to tell you I just cant be around fig trees because I never leave empty handed. Not only did I get some Cuttings Adriano hooked me up I guess I got lucky since we are both Portuguese from the Islands theres and Addional Connection. I left with 2 Capelas Cuttings wich now that I cut them up I have 10 in cups, 1 Hollier cutting now I have 4 in Cups 1 Violette de Bordeaux now I have 2 in cups thanks to my crazy boxer dog who Chewed the other two cuttings. Oh and 1 LSU Gold shoot. Thank god i had the courage to stop my self of else I would be in big trouble.

I now have over 20 cuttings in my office now.

That is great you having a Dad like that!

Tell him I sent him a very special Texas Howdy!

And maybe along with what you call a Hobby Farm ya might consider a bigger Office HEHE

I'll bet that VdB roots the quickest for ya, Mine did the rooting really fast, 2nd only to the Guilbeau.

Neslon so when they start to grow will you grow them in containers?
If so sounds like you will have your hands full buying extra pots, soil, fertilizer etc,etc.
Lots of work especially when you have to root prune them all down the road and make a mess wherever ya do it !
But all in all its a lot of fun, i already miss observing my trees in yard drinking coffee and smoking, as darn winter is almost here and the trees are all put away . This morning parts of the swing i sit on in summer along with patio set i put away.
So as of now the yard looks naked !

Nelson, I was quite impressed when I went there 2 years ago too!  Amazing how much he managed to fit into that backyard of his isn't it?  He's got about 200 varieties of figs in there, as well as a couple of kiwiis, plumbs, pears, grapes, peaches and he still had space for a veggie garden. 

Did he start wraping his figs yet?  I just have to remember to call him next time instead of trying to email...  he takes forever to respond through email.

Yes CCC1 lol I forgot to mention that yes he does have all those other fruit trees and veggie garden. He also has about 20 small fig tree planted in his veggie garden to give them a boost most were 2-3 ft. Oh and those Kiwis are to die for my god they are delicious. CCC1 yes Adriano is starting to put his favorite potted plants in the Boxes and storing some of the others in that shed. If you need something from Adriano you have to call hes a busy man and has allot of work these next couple days to moved over a hundred pots by him self at 74 you need to give the man some credit. I liked his idea of those wooden boxes think I will do the same when I get my own house seems to work quite well for Adriano and is quite simple.

Thanks Cecil I will let him know, Hobby farm is basically you grown your own crops for you own consumption or something like that, atleast thats what the real estate guy told us. Basically he wants to buy a house with 10 acres or more, wich would be great for the two of us since we love plants. Oh Cecil I forgot to Mention he keeps talking about going to Texas one day to see real cowboys as he says it.

Martin I feel your pain you think its time to start some cuttings to keep you entertained over winter. I wont be keeping all these cuttings, I have a big family and now they all want fig trees so I will be giving a few away.  Oh again I wanted to thank you for posting pics earlier this year of your VDB thanks to you I knew I had to get one myself they just looked so good made me drool all over my keyboard.

Hi Nelson, your plan(your Dad's & yours) sound like a great idea. You might want to mention that he would be hard pressed to find a real cowboy in Texas! LOL! Good luck with all your cuttings.

hahaha thanks Tim .

No nelson i wont be starting any cuttings this year i have room i found out in garage for a few more plants but the 1 scion i want i cannot get, and have been thinking about 1 or 2 others as well.
A hobby farm is most enticing i thought of that as well one day when we make our move to a warmer climate but i dont think im going to after some thought just a little piece of land that i can grow some inground as well in pots. Would be nice to live next to a friendly farmer where i could shoot some pheasant and quail though as they are delicious to eat.

Fatnsassy,

Go out around Van Horn and tell that to some of those guys!

They will make you change your mind, I mean in a hurry.

I hear you Martin living in cool climates suck, I hate the fact that we get 5 months of cold Weather and its depressing. Yup my Dad too says he wants land that has wild rabbits so he can shoot them.

Oh another thing I remembered Adriano told me of a few varieties he believes are exactly the same one was Schar Amber he believes its the same as the Paradiso most Italian Canadians have wich is the dark bronze one another he mentioned was Corynth & kadotta  he said next year he will be evaluating them a bit more to see if there really is a difference between them.

Cecil, you're right about west Texas! I was referring to the stereotypical  idea that many people have about Texans chasing Indians on horseback with a six shooter on each hip!Haha!

Corynth is similar to Kadota but in my opinion, has a much more intense flavor. I gave Corynth to Adriano. The original tree comes from the Island of Pelopponese, Greece. I propagated it from cuttings given to me by a Greek family that owns a well known restaurant here in Albuquerque. I named the fig "Mykonos", after that of the restaurant. The grandfather of the owner smuggled this fig from his home town in Greece and grew the tree here in New Mexico. He has since died and the family was not taking care of the tree that well.
I am so impressed by the rich, sweet flavor of this yellow fig that I sent cuttings to Hanc Mathies in Long Island. He renamed the fig "Corynth" and gave it to the Belleclare Nursery. Now you know the rest of the story!

Thanks Leon maybe im confusing what he compared it too, he compared a few that he thought were the same and a few that were very similar.
Adriano spoke very highly of Corynth and told me its one of those varieties worth having he also mentioned he got the plant from you Leon. I also wanted to get a Fico Genovese plant but he only had one small one that was already reserved for somebody.

Hey Leon the Corynth is a yellow fig with amber pulp right?

Nelson, thanks for the great report on your visit & Adriano is well.

Oh just remembered one of the other varieties was the Early Violet taste was fair but not sweet and Adriano said it produced three crops this year.