I wanted start a new series of topics, to collect data that can be added to the Figs 4 Fun database, and that will help new figgies pick out varieties suitable to their climate and region. I probably won't get a new one started every day, but will try.

Please include you city and state in your reply so that people can identify the comments that are pertinent to their.

San Diego, CA

Celeste, here, has been a workhorse variety. It has been the most consistent performer even in the yo-yo hot-cold summers of the last couple of years. It is very sweet, will dehydrate on the tree, if the humidity stays low. Taste is very sweet, and even though the flesh tends to be reddish, the taste is more in the date-raisin zone than the berry zone. The fruit can be small to medium and can have a longer pendant shape, or be almost round.

Here in Wilmington, NC, Celeste is great. It is planted all over the place. Seldom drops figs. Handles winters beautifully inground and in pots. Sweet and juicy.

Newnan, Georgia, here in the Deep South, Celeste is one of the most reliable figs available. It is very sweet and
produces an abundance of generally medium size figs. I have a five year old in ground tree and it is a prolific
tree with no winter die back without any protection.

My two cents -

Celeste is without a doubt the most common fig in the NE Texas area.  There seems to be difference between the really old trees (40+yrs old) and the newer trees in that the older trees definitely produce heavier crops and are less likely to "throw" figs prior to ripening.  The Celeste in this area make a beautiful "Mound" shaped tree when left alone but will respond to training if you want a groomed, single trunk tree.  They will freeze back to the ground in some areas and grow back to original height and produce figs the same year when they are 8-10 ft tall.  Larger trees are extremely cold hardy in this area zone 7b-8.  Taste and size is consistent tree to tree.   Many of these trees are descendants of Tennessee and Alabama coming west with original Texas settlers in the early to mid 1800's

Generally all ripe and done first week in August, depends on heat index

For me, Celeste is my workhorse.  My Celeste fig trees have finished producing for this year. 

Christine

A fine fig in Egg Harbor Twp., NJ as well.

Jon,

That is a great idea!
Just a suggestion, for a presentation it would be nice to see a common leaf shape and a sliced fig. 

Great idea Jon , would be so helpful.

What is the difference between the varieties of Celeste? I know of the regular Celeste and the golden Celeste. Is there a difference with a blue Celeste? Are there any others out there?

This leaf is from Celeste GM. In my experience, Celeste leaves generally have a center lobe that has one of two "side lobes" and the center lobe overlaps the other lobes when flattened out.



I do have a couple dozen different Celestes and Blue Celestes from every corner of the country. When they were DNA tested (long story) at USDA/UC Davis they were determined to be the same. But over the years certain ones have been better performers. Many had different characteristics, size, shape color, etc. But over time you find all of the various characteristics on all of them, even if some predominate with each different one.

For me, they all have a darker bottom end, usually more bronzish/brownish. They vary in color from brownish to light purple to almost pinkish. Most have a silver blush on the upper portion. Most all have small brownish spots that almost look like knots in a piece of wood. It has been very hard to find a single fig that has all of the characteristics at the same time.

I have nothing to report....I was just telling another forum member early today that I don't have Celeste, for some reason.  Maybe reports of its small size discouraged me from getting it.  Can someone give me an average size (weight) that they experience and if it seems to have decent prospects to market fresh figs? Thanks!

My celeste is performing well in my USDA zone 6b in ground with southern exposure next to the house and also doing ok planed out in a field setting (some tip dieback).  Somewhat cold hardy. Very nice flavor in an average year.  Ok this year but some soured on the tree with rain everyday for almost a week at ripening time.

Here in south Louisiana Celeste is the most comon because its the most reliable. If you drive down the road and see just one fig tree in someone's yard you can just about garuntee its Celeste.

I have 2 year old Celeste in ground 7 a, dropped early figs in July, but now loaded with very sweet ripe figs.

Harvey, the small size might discourage people at the farmer's markets, but sample will rule the day. I would guess that they are 8-10 to the pound.

An unknown from one of our islands, North Topsail, is likely a Celeste. It is great in baked goods. In a pie, its flavor was like strawberry/rhubarb. Strangely, when those same figs were made into a cobbler, its flavor shifted and went toward fresh peaches.

I started two Blue Celestes two years ago, thanks to Jon. Both are in pots. One was loaded this year and has since dropped most of its fruit. The other, kept inside over the winter, fruited not at all. Somewhat disappointing, but a trial for me, after all.

Long Island ,NY- z7a
I have a Celeste. It is new to my collection this Spring. Spring here was very cool and rainy .It has a nice amount of main figs now. None as yet are ripe but getting larger. There has been no fig drop on it . It is in full sun and has been fertilized the same as all my trees. It will be up potted in the next weeks as the pot it came in is rather small.

edit : just ate a nicely ripe small one this morning and it was very sweet !!

It seems to me that Celeste is one of the underrated figs. My Celeste is from an heirloom tree on my Great grandparents place.  They moved to Louisiana from Kentucky around 1920.  I would like to know if they brought the tree with them or got it after they moved here.  There is no one left that could tell me.  This is some of my Celeste http://imageshack.us/a/img812/8572/2qrq.jpg[/CODE]
These are some I dried.
http://imageshack.us/a/img43/9633/009tix.jpg[/CODE]

I agree. I could eat them all day.

Okay, I want to get a Celesete.  Which strain should I get?  Maybe I can pick one up at the fig fiesta either from you or another member going (if I make it....looking good right now).

In northwest Georgia Celeste is the most common variety along with brown turkey and lemon. To me it is the best flavored of the three. I agree with the date description for flavor. When they get ripe and start to dry out they can have a brown sugar sweetness. Also the best fig for making traditional southern whole fig preserves.

Thanks for starting this thread.  I had passed on getting a Celeste because of the small size and because I'd gotten the faulty impression that it was a boring, sub-par fruit whose popularity was mainly due to its ability to grow in so many people's yards.

I feel like I need to apologize to Celeste for naively ranking it with the Brown Turkeys of the world...

It *is* a fig like Black Mission and others, where it has one taste, a lot of vegetal taste if not completely ripe, and a lot of sweetness.  It's a snack fig, nothing more, and people grow this variety because it's generally reliable and a good producer.  Make sure you get O'Rourke, or one of the other Improved Celestes.  Also consider Scott's Black.

Does need to be said, though.  Brown Turkey, the real stuff when it's properly ripened in a hot and dry climate, is a better fig than Celeste in terms of having nuanced flavor.  The taste is lighter and less sweet, though, and in the SE, the only reason to grow it is for it's reliability and heavy production.

Never buy anything but the proper tasty strains of either Celeste or Brown Turkey, and know that in suboptimal climates, Celestes drop fruit (unless it's Improved) and BTs go from mild tasting to almost worthless without dry heat.  These two varieties have justifiably given a bad name to figs in terms of refined appreciation as dessert fruits in the humid SE.