Just read this article from local newspaper about Olympian fig:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/12/1183238/big-on-figs-a-retired-biologist.html

It would be interesting to see the result of growing this fig in other states. 

Scott

Thanks for posting the link to article to read .
What i found interesting on the right side of page figs that do well in the Sound and list Violet De Bordeaux as one of them unless he meant the breba crop from that plant.

I need to put in a word about this new variety since I live in the Olympia, WA region where the Olympian was discovered and appears to be at home. I'm always searching for new cool-summer cultivars that can approach the reliability of our best breba producer: Desert King. I may graft Olympian scions onto my DK's and produce an amazing tree! Hope to read more reports on the Olympian as more of them mature.

bump.
[Note the plenty of info in the link provided in post#1]

Thanks for the link.

Best,
Tam

I have a small plant received a couple months ago.

I have an order in for one this spring with Burnt Ridge Nursery. Looking forward to seeing and tasting this fig.

thanks George. I forgot to read the story.

Couldn't resist.  Just bought two small plants from "Wellspring Gardens" ...on a total impulse.

From what I have read....a totally new variety-with no known DNA matches, has large, Mandarine Orange size figs...ripens in July-August, tight eye, sweet with red-violet flesh, and, is hardy.  What's to lose?

"Burnt Ridge Nursery" is also retailing this variety.  Spoke to Mike Dolan and he says this is a great fig for short-seasons, cooler climate growers.  Great flavor.


Frank


EDIT:  I am hoping that this newly discovered variety in NOT infected with FMV since it hales from a colder climate.

I have had some correspondence with the fellow that "invented" this fig (discovered it) and has worked on the DNA testing with USDA/UC Davis. It is supposed to do well in short/cool season climates with a minimum of heat units.

I ordered some about a month or so ago. Six to be exact.
I ordered them to split them up with another friend. He only wanted a couple so I shared one with another friend already and a couple more to go with a couple more friends.

They were very little when they arrived but after a few days I decided to up pot them into quart size pots.

They are growing nicely and branching out. The plants are dark green and appear to be 100% free of FMV.

Plant wise, so far they are winners.
Fruit wise, this will remain to be seen.

I will post pictures later.

Very interesting. Sounds like it could be a good one.

Rafed-

Nice to read the new information.  Seems to be so new a variety that little has been written up about it.  The photos of the figs look nice, but then again, they all do.  Until a track record is established, we will all just scratch out heads in wonderment.

...."Dark green and FMV-free"..... that's good to read. 

I'm excited!  Isn't that sick?

************************************************** ************

Jon- that's exactly why I want to try this fig, i.e. short-season, and minimum of heat units.


Frank

Sounds promising...only time and trial will tell

Frank,
I have the tissue cultured Olympian from Wellsprings and a 1 gallon in transit from Burnt Ridge Nursery... I'll be growing out both for comparison. The TC plants currently look healthy, they probably came almost directly from Agristart because they had not been pinched (pruned) and the roots were just thru the TC plug sleeves.
Good Luck with yours.

I'll be getting one in the next few weeks to try out here in Pennsylvania zone 6b (allegedly the same zone as it was found in, though different coast), I'll add my results whenever I get it.

does anyone has pix of this fig? 

Pete,
Only pics from the Web...
  

And the Wellsprings TC plants when they were delivered.
  .

pete, 

that's a good looking figs. thanks.

I'll post some pictures of the ones I have later on when I go home.

I think for the cost it's worth the grab. Sooner or later this fig is going to gain some popularity and the price might sky rocket.

I don't think Well Springs is going to have an endless supply. Not at least on this price.

Pete ascpete, not Pete Bullets...

Wellspring Gardens sells tissue-cultured plants/fig?  Interesting.  Didn't know this.


Frank

Yeah....I picked up a couple of them last year.  Sounds like an interesting unknown fig with potential!

Here's the Olympian I got about a month ago from Burnt Ridge:

 

Here the pictures of the five of six Olympian plants I have left. Shared No.6 with a friend.
They are growing nice and the tallest one is roughly 12" tall.
Hope this fig turns out to be a winner. Looks good but the final verdict remains for a later date.

Please enjoy the pictures.

Thanks for the photos of this variety. 

I'm looking forward to growing this new discovery.  The proof will be in the growing, and the flavor of the figs will cast the final ballot of yea, or nay.  I guess it will take a few years for opinions to start being posted about this variety.  I don't think it's very fair to judge flavor profiles from figs off immature trees.  But growth, vigor, fruitfulness etc. can be observed and reported.

Members of this forum are in a unique and qualified position to evaluate, and report on this new fig. 

Happy growing.


Frank

Frank,

I'll give it time.

Just placed my order for one of these from Wellspring Gardens. Can't wait.

I just got one of these in the mail from Wellspring.

potatochips, I would love to have at least one cutting of atreano, mary lane, alma, and negronne.  I will pay for postage, I am in California.

[QUOTE=rafed]Here the pictures of the five of six Olympian plants I have left. Shared No.6 with a friend.
They are growing nice and the tallest one is roughly 12" tall.
Hope this fig turns out to be a winner. Looks good but the final verdict remains for a later date.

Please enjoy the pictures.[/QUOTE]

I did enjoy the pictures, very nice!  Thanks for showing us.

Marie

[QUOTE=KCMarie][QUOTE=rafed]Here the pictures of the five of six Olympian plants I have left. Shared No.6 with a friend.
They are growing nice and the tallest one is roughly 12" tall.
Hope this fig turns out to be a winner. Looks good but the final verdict remains for a later date.

Please enjoy the pictures.[/QUOTE]

I did enjoy the pictures, very nice!  Thanks for showing us.

Marie[/QUOTE]

I am planning on ordering a plant or two on a whim...what's to lose.  :-) We will see how they do in 7b Georgia!!

[QUOTE=rafed]Here the pictures of the five of six Olympian plants I have left. Shared No.6 with a friend.
They are growing nice and the tallest one is roughly 12" tall.
Hope this fig turns out to be a winner. Looks good but the final verdict remains for a later date.

Please enjoy the pictures.[/QUOTE]

Did they come in the Proven Winners pots? That's interesting if they did, I didn't know PW was getting into edibles.

[QUOTE=Ampersand][QUOTE=rafed]Here the pictures of the five of six Olympian plants I have left. Shared No.6 with a friend.
They are growing nice and the tallest one is roughly 12" tall.
Hope this fig turns out to be a winner. Looks good but the final verdict remains for a later date.

Please enjoy the pictures.[/QUOTE]

Did they come in the Proven Winners pots? That's interesting if they did, I didn't know PW was getting into edibles.[/QUOTE]

No they're not.
I had some fresh pots from a friend so I used them.

Unfortunately, the original linked story has disappeared.  Does anyone have any more details about it's discovery/development?
I'm quite interested in this one, since I'm from Olympia originally (and it was the first place I remember seeing a fig tree growing in someone's yard in the U.S.).
     -Travis

From diferent sources on the web:


"'Olympian' is a ultra cold hardy fig & absolutely delicious. This fig produces very sweet fruits with thin purple skin with a red to violet flesh. Discovered by retired biologist Denny McGaughy, he named it after the city where he found it in a sheltered location. Denny worked with Malli Aradhy, a geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Clonal Germplasm Repository to conduct DNA test to find out if it was a known cultivar. It did not match any of the 200+ figs in the repository. It appears Denny has found a unique heirloom variety that produces well in cool & coastal climates."

"

You probably have seen fig trees scattered through in Western Washington, but figs, ancient fruit native to the Mediterranean area, are not usually adept to growing in the cool wet winters of this area of Washington. Denny McGaughy can tell you. McGaughy, a retired environmental biologist who lives about 30 miles from Olympia in Elma, tasted his first fig on the banks of the Sacramento River in California and has been in love with the fig, which he calls, “God’s candy,” ever since. Now McGaughy has over 100 fig trees at his Elma home. What he didn’t realize was that one fig tree he had been a previously unidentified variety. McGaughy sent germplasm (the seed or tissue that can be used to develop into another entire plant) to a National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Davis, California, where it was determined that this variety, which he is calling the “Olympian,” although similar to the Latarulla variety, it is genetically unmatched to any of the repository’s collection of 200 fig trees. The collection at the repository has the largest variety of fig trees in the country, perhaps even the world.

McGaughy has collected a variety of trees that thrive in Western Washington, a task not done easily considering the fig’s preference for warm and sunny climates like the Mediterranean. The varieties he grows are acclimated to the wet mild climate of the Pacific Northwest. McGaughy received a piece of the Olympian from a 100 year-old tree from a woman in Olympia, and now has 40 starts of the Olympian. He plans on selling them to nurseries so they can be grown throughout Western Washington.  "


Also see this

http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Hot-figs-to-grow-in-cool-places-3259824.php

Received two small trees from Wellspring....  Trees look happy and healthy, with dark, spinach-green leaves, and no visible signs of FMV.

So far, so good.


Frank

Congrats Frank,

I gifted all but one to my friends and family.
None of them showed any signs of FMV. Mine will be up potted again this weekend into a 2gl or 3gl pot.

Mine is branching out already.

Good luck with yours

Here's the one I received from wellspring. Gorgeous little plant with no signs of fmv. Sorry if it shows up sideways.

Rafed-

Hope your "Olympian" and the other trees do well.  My little trees are already putting out a few new leaves.  If the weather warms up, here in NYC, maybe they will actually grow into something.  We are getting freezing weather, again, tonight, and over the next few days.

Yep...the little trees look "clean".  



Frank

I purchased one from Wellspring. My dog used it as floss. Only three half leaves left. It has survived over two weeks and terminal bud seems to still be growing. One tough plant.

I just got this one from Burnt Ridge a week ago. Plan to trans plant to 3 gal. Anything else I should do? I am trying to change my brown thumb into green with fig trees. Hope I make it go right. I am new to all new to all this.



 

rx2....

Very nice tree.  I'm impressed.  Lots of luck with this newer variety.


Frank

Rx2: your leaves look very different from the plant I received from Wellspring. Ill have to upload a photo later

Yeehova,
I have both cultivars (Burnt Ridge and Wellspring), they have the same leaf pattern. The unlobed (entire) leaves are usually the newly emerged leaves, it will develop leaves with deeper sinuses as the tree grows.

I estimate they've sold at least 300 plants on ebay so I bought an Olympian there, too.  I didn't think there would be enough demand for me to sell 72.  I was disappointed to find only 1 plant in the pot  :)

I bought two from burnt ridge. I stupidly set them next to my containers of veggies and the puppy thought they were more edible greens he was stealing and stripped the leaves off one. Leaves are bouncing back and I have a backup anyway. I will put one in the ground and keep one in a container.

Here is what mine looks like

Hopefully this cultivar will turn out to be a winner here in the northeast. It seems that we are losing our heat in the summer here. I purchased 2 trees from Burnt Ridge and they are now both in 3 gallon nursery pots and have fully leafed out. I am starting to think that our already short growing season is shrinking further here in NY.

Happy growing to all those who are trialing the new "Olympian" fig variety. 

Because my little trees will be small, tender, and young, I will give them a very brief dormancy, if at all, and continue to grow them throughout the winter in my very sunny kitchen, right up against sliding glass patio doors.  No cold storage for these trees, not yet.  They'll get the "kid glove" treatment for the next 2-3 years.

My trees from Wellspring seem to be fast growers, and over the last 4-6 weeks, have tripled in size ....growing many more leaves and developing some noticeably thicker stems.  The leaves are clean, and look free of any diseases.  It looks like the trees are off to a good start.  I hope the trend continues.  I'm feeding with "Espoma, Iron-Tone", and also with 1/4 strength "Miracle-Grow", with each watering.  I'm hoping for 10-11 months of leaves, and 1-2 months of resting.


Frank

Are the plants from Burnt Ridge from cuttings of a mature, fruiting branch? Or are they TC origin plants, or cuttings of them? The pics certainly look like mature wood. Mike in Hanover, VA