Well I have had one a day for a while but today I snagged three. They could have used another day but I will be gone for a few days so today was showtime. The tree is in its second year in the ground from a 1 gallon pot.

I grew up with two large 12 ft high by 15 wide 50 year old Celeste trees and that is the fig all others are judged by when I taste them. 

I would love to tell you a story about the lost tree over two rickety foot bridges in the backwoods of Appalachia that was rescued with the help of a long lost 3rd cousin bribing the landowner while he held a double barrel shotgun on us flatlanders.....

But in reality mine is a Celeste from a TN nursery growing in the foothills of the Smokies. The figs from a Celeste here in E. TN (and I have seen several with one being a 40 years old Celeste) tends to be smaller than what I had in New Orleans and also much lighter in color. The taste is typical Celeste, sweet, slightly figgie taste and almost no seed crunch. So, is it a Celeste or has it morphed into the mythical Tennessee Mountain Fig? I feel they are one and the same. We saw low teens last winter and my Celeste lost no branches. I think the drier air and lower night time temps cause the fruit to be slightly different.

How do these compare to Celeste figs at other locations? If you have some let me know or post some pics so we can compare....thanks!

 

Do you have pictures of your Celeste leaves.
  Thank you
Phil from Northern Ohio

Just took this....

Tennessee mountain fig is believed to be same as Hardy Chicago by many( mt Etna type).

NOT CLOSE

Very nice looking fig. I love the way the leaf looks too.

I should have put something in the leaves pic to show the size....they are huge....the middle finger is 8-10 inches long  from the stem. Giant leaves and fruit that in less than 1 inch in diameter.  But oh so good. It is producing ripe figs and new figlets right now. Loves it's surroundings and growing like a weed. Three 2 inch trunks 18 months in the ground. 

Pictures of my very prolific Celeste in pot. Thank You for posting.
Your leaves look interesting.

SAS....I find the difference in the leaves interesting as I have seen both leaf types on pics of Celeste trees on the internet. So does that mean Celeste grown in cooler climates have both fruit and leaf changes I wonder? 

JMRTSUS, I ate my first fresh fig in August off a Celeste I found at Tractor Supply last year.  When I posted the pictures, there were people who agreed it was Celeste, one person said they had a different version of Celeste.    I grow mine in pots to keep the moles from killing them.  I am about 50 miles from you in TN.  I have included a couple of pictures.       

The fruit looks very similar. I've seen different leaves of all shapes on the same tree on many occasions. This happens a lot with relatively young trees.
As the tree gets older at least the majority of leaves should revert back to their normal shape.
I'm no expert, but believe that adaptation to local conditions is part of the evolutionary theory and perhaps that's why we have diffrent strains of Celeste.
Excluding the improved, I've seen two so far, and one of them did not do well in TX. It kept dropping its fruit and I let it go. I would be interested to grow a black Celeste and compare it with the one I have. They say that the flavor is the same but the skin is black.

Black Celeste taste just like Celeste.  Its just black in color.

The leaves on my tree are the 5 finger type with a long fat tips on the middle finger. The "sheepshead" type leaf is what I remember on our Celeste trees growing up. My Celeste in TN leaves looks like an LSU Tiger, White Marseilles, Black Italian and VDB. It was special ordered from my local nursery and I just removed the tag this spring. I have some juvenile Improved Celestes but too young to tell what their leaves are like. I wonder if their leaves are fingered? Looking on the internet for pics I see both leaf types on different trees labeled Celeste. 

Bluns55...your leaves are what I remember in New Orleans. And your fruit looks just like mine. How large is your tree?

This is a thread I started in 2011 about my Celeste.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/is-this-a-celeste-5399988?pid=1269431181

Hi Sas,
  My Celeste fig and leaf from the island of PONZA Italy looks like yours. Mine is 19 years old. I also have A Celeste that looks like JMRTSUS. 

Phil from Northern Ohio

JMRTSUS,

Has your Celeste( mountain fig tree ) produced any breba figs.

No........

I live near South Bend , In close to Michigan border.
I was given two small fig starts 3 years ago. I have them potted and store them in unheated garage during winter.
Last year I had 3 figs ripen before frost, (end of Sep) .
This year they begin to ripen 1st of Aug. with numerous figs on one tree. I think they are Celeste. They have a pleasant sweet plum like taste. I am attaching photos.

The figs look large for a Celeste. Brown Turkey maybe?

thanks for reply.

Take a look at the leaves of this unattended tree growing in TX. Last year it was cut down to the ground, then came back with a vengeance.

Wow, those leaves look huge and shaped like my Celeste in TN!