Hi Fig friends,

Would appreciate if fellow fig friends can suggest the top 15 must have figs varieties.
Thanks - Paul

In no particular order,

Vista
Strawberry Verte
Negronne
Black Nission NL
LSU Gold
LSU Purple
Adriatic
Black Madeira
Panache/Reverse
Celeste
Jurupa
Galbun
White Texas Everbearing
Marseilles VS
Yellow Neches
White Greek
Stella
Sal's
Igo
Falls Gold
Trojano
Black Tuscan
and whatever else I forgot...

This is a copy of a post that I posted long time ago in the GW forum:
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Pierre Baud is a prestigious French fig nursery man, maybe the "top one" in Europe. His family have grown figs for nursery business for two generations. He actually grows more of 300 varieties. He has written several books and articles about figs.

All the below are, in opinion of Pierre Baud, the best 25 varieties of fig (Brown Turkey is only recommended for its cold hardness). He has taken into account own experiences and his customers inputs in different climates, and has classified them in:

- CLIMATS CHAUDS (Mediterranean climate, similar to South California climate)
- CLIMATS TEMPERES (with early autumns less sunny and/or very rainy)
- CLIMATS FROIDS (with rare late springtime frosts). "late"= late April - first May
- CLIMATS FROIDS avec gelées tardives de printemps fréquentes (with frequent late springtime frosts)
- CLIMATS TRES FROIDS (winter temperatures below 0º F)

you can see this classification here (in french), he has divided in figs for small or big gardens and the cropping season:

http://www.fig-baud.com/choixfiguiers.html

Dan, I have read several posts about the merits of Smith fig. It seems to be an LSU fig, isn't it? but I have found little information about it.
Please, could you describe it slightly? is it big or small? unifere or bifere? soon or lite ripening?...

Thanks!

Paul,
Are you looking for must have based on taste or performance?
Keep in mind that taste may differs depending on climate.

Adriatic
Col de Dame (B,W,G)
Violette de Bordeaux
Aubique Petite
Gino's fig
Zingarella
Marseilles vs blk.
Sal's
Hardy Chicago(for hardiness)
Maryland Brn.Trk(for reliability and flavor)
LSU Gold
Mission
Black Sicilian
Beal

I am editting this again by adding these 3 exceptional cultivars,i had a chance to taste this ,last Sommer 
Blue Celeste
Barnisotte Black
Black Ischia

In no particular order.
Some are excellent tasting,some are most reliable,some are cold hardy,etc.
All these taste very good,in my back yard

Hemran,
do you grow all these in the ground?
I understand that Col de Dame is a very late ripening. I'm surprised it bears for you. unless you have it in a container.

Taste preference  would be paramount in terms of  flavour, sweetness, juicyness. After taste & aroma is important too to have that "good feeling".  Agreed that taste can be influenced by climate but hopefully the green house would help in my area, Chilliwack ,Canada. Our summers  temp is ususally between 75*F - 82*F from late June to mid Sept. With regard to performance, I am not so particular as I think can get away with volume of differing  varieties based on fig friends recommendations.

I grow all of them in ground,except Col de Dame Blk,and Gray.
I had fruits of all of them except Col de Dame Gray and Blk.
Gene in wash,Dc had fruits from Col de Dame Blk,and reported it to be even better tasting than my Col de Dame wht.Also Col de Dame Gray (grise)is reported to be better than both in flavor.
So that is why I listed them all.
I do try to grow cuttings from these presently,but nothing is sure till they take off.
I just had a Col de Dame gray,go limp and die on me without any reason,today,i found it.
Yes Col de Dame wht was getting a handfull of ripe figs 2 years ago.
Last year = none.
But i had enough t0 know it taste super good.
Best regards

Does anyone know of any good sources for purchasing an LSU Gold or Smith?  They seem hard to find.

Thanks!

 

Hello Paul,
 
Mr. James Robin has these cultivars listed for sale.
He might still be able to ship you them (it is getting late in the season for shipping)
 
Green & Yellow figs:
Alma, Conadria, King, LSU Everbearing, LSU Gold, Magnolia,
Marseilles, Smith & White Genoa.

Dark figs; black, violet or brown:
Beall, Black Jack, Black Mission, Brown Turkey,
Celeste, Hardy Chicago, HOLLIER, HUNT, LSU Improved Celeste,
Early Violet, LSU Purple, Texas Everbearing & Sciliian Black. Phone: (337)407-0188
Edit encantofarms.com might be able to help you also.
Cecil

Adriatic, Alma, Bourjasotte Grise, Celeste, Col de Dame Noir, Green Ischia, Harry's Fig (Poulette), Hollier, Hunt, Kadota, LSU Gold, Mission, Smith, Violette de Bordeaux, Vista Mission

There are several others that may vie for the list, once I have had a chance to sample the fruit: Aldo, Black Madiera, Gentile, Paradiso (depending on which one it is!) and Trojano.

Thanks VERY much Dan, I promise to give it a good home!
 
Just email me with what I need to do OK!
 
Cecil

Thanks Dan for your Smith description. I was confused with the origin. Obviously, to be from Louisiana doesn't necessarily imply to be from LSU.

Only on the FIGS 4 FUN FORUM would there be lists of the top 12-15 varieties of figs-

The average person- not figs fanatics like ourselves- would be pressed to name just 2! (perhaps: black and green)

Knowing how the same variety in different climates, soil, and microclimate create different qualities-

I wonder what is your # 1 favorite variety?
the one you consider The Best- considering taste, productivity or other qualities you would like to mention.

I grew up eating Black Mission, but after tasting Violette De Bourdeaux at Wolfskill, I think it is the best tasting.

Last year my top choice is the Elana fig, followed by Desert King, Negronne & Lattarula. This preference may change by late summer 2008 as my collection has grown to include some top quality figs like Hardy Chicago, Capelas, Stella , St Anthony etc. And I plan to have a green house this year to take care of those specialty figs that would need more heat like Brogiotto Nero & hopefully Black Maderia etc. I certainly appreciate fig friends sharing their top preferences as it helps me to make a more discerning choice to appreciate fig's finnese as well as to whats available.

I've only been lucky enough to sample 10-15 or so different varieties, some of which I can't name, but my favorite so far and by a mile is what I believe to be a Black Mission from a particular couple of trees in Hayward California. I went to chiropractic college in the East Bay area of California and lived up against the mountain range on the east side of the Bay. There was a regional park (Garin Regional Park, for those who might like to find the three fig trees, two of which had superior fruit than the third, that produced these fantastic figs) near my apartment that I would visit.

I discovered these trees, which must have been planted by the property owner before the ranch was purchased and converted to a park, the second of the three years I lived there and harvested many figs. I found it interesting that the taste and productivity in year three was far inferior to year two. I can still taste those year two Missions: they were rich, almost coconutty, and juicy without being too sweet. I generally like Missions, even when I find them in the store, but I've never tasted a Mission fig or any other fig since that approaches them. Next time I'm down that way I intend to take a few cuttings or dig up one of the many suckers off of the main trunk of one of them and see if I can manage to keep it happy in a pot.

On the local front, I had a grand total of one Violette De Boudeaux last year off of my first year tree and it was very nice. I look forward to a larger crop this year. Celeste and Lattarula from my potted trees have also tasted very good.

I am afraid to say that the best fresh fig I've had was a Katoda.

Of course it was the only fig of mine that produced any fruit, well any fruit which I (and not the squirrels) got to sample.

This year I am hoping to try a number of other varieties (and who knows, maybe some squirrel jurky as well)

~Chills

Mind you- these were all in pots last year so I just gotta' couple here and there but I am totally in LOVE with my Tena, Verte and Flanders! They have been in the ground since October and are now leafing out- out in the fig farm. I am so excited and will have a much better and broader idea with 37 trees planted (29 varieties so far).... and more on the way!

This has been a hard year personally for me so my figs have been such a greatly appreciated diversion and I LOVE coming back to this wonderful new forum!
Christy

This year we had weather that is not so kind to figs here in British Columbia. Thus the ones that stood out for me are   --- Desert King, Elana, Enrico, Ficazzana, Hardy Chicago, Lattarulla, Negronne, Tony's Greek & Vicenzo. Others that stood out for my friend who used the greenhouse for a head start are Slocan, Stella, Nebo White Italian etc., especially Slocan. Hope others can chime in what have done well for them this year. I know for sure I will need to have a greenhouse by spring 2009.
The biggest mistake I made this year was I winter them in the house & they started early and I forgot to take them in during early/mid spring and all tender growth was killed & heavy damage to leaves. This setback was an extra blow to the less than friendly fig weather resulting in no chance for crops to ripen. Almost all varieties of breba crop was wiped out.

This is a response to posturedoc's post, I sent you an email but you did not reply so I'm posting to see if that works better.
I work in Hayward, CA and visited Garin park last week during my lunch hour, there was not much time to explore it. However, I came across a mass of fig trees growing  by a creek. Wish I could post pictures.
Just beyond the parking lot, there is a small foot bridge across the creek. On the other side, there was a mass of figs on either side of the footbridge. I can't say there were 3 separate trees. Either tons of suckers or tons of seedlings, all grown together into a mass of vegetation. No figs at this time of the year.
Were these the great tasting figs? No way to tell which is the good one...

Ok so I did not want to start a new thread, I will be going to visit Adriano next week to get some cuttings off him. I am looking for a good white variety for the North East I have been debating between a few varieties so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Some of the white variants that I was thinking

Fracazzano
Marylane Seedless
Col De Dame white
St. Anthony

anyone try these? Good / Bad ?

col de dame - very good, but late

Fracazzano - ?
Marylane Seedless - quite good
Col De Dame white - quite good
St. Anthony - good, but 7-10 day ripening cycle, after first showing signs.

Sorry Jon the syn is Ficazzana