Good afternoon.  I'm planning to put in a Celeste and one other fig variety.  I'm looking for recommendations, or already compiled lists of pros/cons.  I'm in the Piedmont of NC, normally 7b.  The location would be protected from winter sun.  It would not be 100% sun, I estimate maybe 2/3rds sun.  I have many roses and blackberries there now that are thriving, and those are sun-seeking plants.

The location is not also huge - it's limited in lateral space by houses, so I would be looking maybe not for the largest tree in the world.

I'm most interested in:
- Good sweet flavor.  I've had very ripe Celeste (delicious!) and less ripe or watery varieties, and I just don't see too much point if it's not going to be delicious.
- Easy /reliable.  My neighbor's mature Celeste seems to reliably ripen good fruit in dry years and rain drenched years.  This year we had four days of 25F lows in the spring after everything bloomed, wiping out all the shoots on my roses for exampel, but her tree put up a great crop anyway.
- Productive

EDIT: I'm curious to try a green fig as well.  It would be fun to have a different color, and it seems like they may be less bothered by wildlife.  I was looking at Stella, but one post suggested it was only 50-70% as productive as some other varieties.

Thanks!

I have had pretty good success with Brown Turkey, Black Mission and Celeste.  The April freeze hit my trees pretty hard and the brown turkey recovered the best.  I live in Cary, NC - also in the Piedmont.

Tad

Green : JH Adriatic

Others: Chicago Hardy , MBVS, Nero 600m.

I am reccomending the above based on ability to handle cold with winter protection when young, ability to stand up to some rain, availability...that is not too expensive.

Brown turkey is pretty hardy, but lacks flavor...if you only have room for 2, choose wisely.

All of my LSU varieties are doing great, Yellow, Purple, and Black are grow like weeds in this heat. They are some of the best varieties for the humid south.

Here is my 2 cents living in Charlotte the past 12 years and originally from Hickory...

Best & hardiest--- dark purple flavorful fig for me is Hardy Chicago, Angelo's Dark, Nero 600m, Aubique Petite, Tacoma Violet, LSU Black

Best & hardiest--- brown flavorful fig for me is Improved Celeste, Texas Everbearing

Best & hardiest--- reddish flavorful fig for me is Celeste

Best & hardiest--- green flavorful fig for me is Strawberry (NOT Green Ischia), Strawberry Verte, Lyndhurst White

Best & hardiest--- yellow flavorful fig for me is Peter's Honey

Some folks may disagree with me and that's ok...they can.  But these listed above grow well in my 8a USDA zone.

I'm looking at getting an Adriatic JH.  There are a number of individuals selling small (1') trees on eBay.  Would it be worthwhile getting one at this time of the year?  Can it go in the ground, would it survive winter so small?  Thanks!