Noss, those stares are killer!  HA!  Good one Jon!  If I walk around the house sad for about 2 days....she might come around.  That didn't work.  So I bought her a nice pair of pink walking sticks.  I gave them to her last night.  She looked at me and said, "Oh how sweet.....I'm still not going to jump that fence so you can get those black figs".  ARGH!!!!

Sorry to bump this but it's better than starting a new thread.
I tasted both vbd and vista next to eachotger this past season to my taste vista was a better tasting fig. But if these two figs are the same genetically but have so many differences here in Nj and in Cali could it be a sport or accidental mutation? I am not big into the genetics of the thing even though I have a minor in anthropology I am with Herman on the appearance.

I do not have it but another member told me the same Vista>VDB

My Vista has always out-performed all the VdBs I have. Better grower, better fruiter.

I have a couple dozen Celestes, Celestials and Blue Celestes that all test the same by DNA, but they definitely do not all perform the same. "JN", "GM", "PM" and Blue Celeste "JN" are the winners here.

Seeing the variability in Celeste, it does not surprise me that VdBs vary as well.

I got Vista, Strawberry Verte, Black Jack, Paradiso, and Blue Celeste from Jon. The clear winners to my taste are Strawberry Verte and Paradiso. They are so similar they must be strongly related. But I've chosen to go forward with Strawberry Verte as my main fig until I find something better. It has less spoilage than Paradiso.