Wow, I almost drop to my knee after I ate my first winter CDD Grise this afternoon. I still have few more on the tree and the weather should be warm up to 70F which I am looking forward to get few more next week.

Very interesting looking fruit, Congrats on your patience and effort paying off!

Oh wow this looks amazing Jack.  It has been colder earlier this year up in the Verde Valley How old is your tree?  I would love to visit with you and your tree sometime.  My parents and sons live in the valley.  I am struggling with the more challenging microclimes of the Verde Valley.  Have a great Brown Turkey to trade, if you are interested.  Enjoy the flavors, Jodi 

FYI Jodi, I brought my cuttings from Herman two years ago. One tree in the ground and the other in the container. My summer crop was pretty small and kind of dry up due to 110 degree summer heat here at Phoenix. However, my second crop (winter) turn out to be outstanding, it is my best tasting fig this year so far. I will try to provide my CDDG in the container with some shade cloth next summer and hope that I may be lucky with two decent crops.
Panamajack
Zone 9b

That is awesome Panamajack, congrats! I have a small CdDG tree, and like you I bought it from herman (this fall). I am excited for this fig so this report makes me very optimistic. Thanks for sharing!

Cool that both if you are in Phx and have hermans figs! I lost out on the bidding for some myself. Someday! Happy figging. Jodi

Congratulation, Jack:
I can see the fig having some problem,with too much heat in Phoenix AZ.
If you have a spot with sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon,then I would make another tree from cuttings and plant it there.

Ping, I just messaged you regarding the flavor of this fig...you have just answered it for me in this thread.  :)

I don’t know if my CdDG is going to ripen or not. Should I give up on it? The last leaf fell off as I moved it to take the picture below. It’s from Harvey who got his cuttings from Herman2. We’re having day temps in the upper seventies, lower eighties, with night temps in the fifties. I wasn’t impressed with CdDG’s first fruit from the first year tree this summer, but hope for better next year. Thanks for the suggestion on planting, Herman2. I know exactly where to plant it now.

However, my CdDN (3 yr. old tree) gave me a very good fig yesterday, sweet and jammy with a touch of acid.
Strawberry Verte this morning was even sweeter.
The I-258 from a few days ago had an almost mandarin citrus quality, like a good Satsuma. Neither were as sweet as their summer fruit, but were sweeter than several other varieties at their peak in the summer.
An LSU Purple yesterday was disappointing, -bland with little sweetness.
Finally my grafted Black Madeira produced it first ripe fruit for me earlier this week, sweet, jammy with a complex hint of something like a grape flavor –perhaps Concord?

December is turning out to be a good month so far for my figs. Hopefully next year will be even better.

  My December CdDG. 

Herman, thank you for your advise. Most folks are talking about how to protect thier figs for the cold weather but hardly mention how to deal with 110 degree heat like here in Phoenix, Arizona. I make sure put a heavy layer of mulch and even painted my container white color to reflect the Arizona sun in the summer.

Jodi, I have over 120 varieties of figs in my back yard and I try to down size and see which varieties can stand the Phoenix summer heat. You are welcome to stop by if you are around my area in the future.

Panamajack

Zone 9b

My mouth is watering, Jack! It's a beaut! Congrats!

Mara, we are blessed with such great weather here in So Cal! Today it should be in the mid 70's! By the way, the tree I found at my community garden has ONE fig! It just showed up. Its pretty big today so I will try the oulification method on it :-)!

Wow I can't even imagine 120 varieties Jack. How long have you had your fig addiction? I'd love to visit you and your figgy family. Will pm you. Cheers, Jodi

Cool Meg I just saw your comment on piling the belly button of the fig. It worked great for me and my figgy friend Daisy. It definitely speeds up ripening and then continues to work even rotting faster too. Hope you get to savor that fig!

Piling=oiling! Darn auto speller strikes again!!!

Jodi, lol....dont u just hate those typos?! I do. Some weird sentences turn up! I will post a pic of the fig on my (found) fig tree. Dont know anything about this tree!

I'd love to see your backyard with the 120 fig trees.  I'm in the Phoenix area as well. More east towards the Scottsdale Airport though.  

Melissa, you are also welcome to stop by my place (Goodyear) when you have the time. Please PM me if you still want to come. Jodi is planning to stop by tomorrow and check out what I have in my backyard.

Panama jack
Zone 9b

Yes and I am so excited.  I am blown away to think of 120 fig trees, let alone 120 varieties.  Thank you Ping for allowing me to visit with you and the figgy friends.  Best, Jodi

Congrats PanamaJack!  It looks like a very nice fig.

The Genoa. 

Wow wow wow.  I got to visit Ping and his amazing fig orchard on Wednesday.  I was really blown away by his generous sharing of his knowledge, experience and figs.  We shared two of his favorite figs, a perfectly ripe Genoa, followed 15 minutes later by a CDDG.  Oh my as I had never tasted these two flavor delicacies I now can say I understand what all the fuss is about.  Really amazing.  I can not even imagine how cool it will be to unwrap these beauties off my own trees.  Ping and his lovely wife, shared their fig tasting with each other and me.  It was really special to see their love of the trees and each other.  Ping told me of how many fig cultivars have not made the cut for him and how the ones he has have taught him so much about plants, propagation, cultivation and the variety of flavors that this beautiful, vigorous plant brings into our lives.  It was a truly magickal experience.  The fig bug is alive and well at panama jack's figgy orchard for sure.  Thank you again Ping and your wife for the lovely green respite in the brown desert.  ;-)  

 The really incredible, all its is cracked up to be, CDDG!! In Phoenix on 12-9-15.  Ping wraps his precious figlets up in a newspaper cup or a child's sock to keep them safe from the birds.  His trees look like christmas trees with all the figgy decorations. 

 The figs.  It is incredible to me when Ping speaks of how recently he was bitten by the figgy bug himself.  To think this is only 2+ years of his collecting.  So many lovely leaves, figs and healthy plants.  Hope they all do well with the colder weather coming.  Thanks again.  Jodi

Jodi, thank you for your time to visit me. I wish I can offer you more, but I can't complain, it is December and we are still eating figs.

Jody and Jack:Col de dame grise,fruit you got this year,so late are not full flavor:
Wait a couple ,more years ,for plant to get old and ,then judge the fruit!.
It will be larger in size ,more beautiful,inside outside,and a couple of notches up in Flavor and sugar.

Edit note:By the way:It will ripe in August for you not December,as it did this year.
I had ripe fruits on Sept.10,one good Summer here in NJ,but of course your climate is much warmer,so it will get ripe way sooner.!

Best Regards

Thank you Herman. I can't wait couple more years to taste the full flavor of my CDDG which I got it from your cuttings.

I can't imagine more flavor Herman, that is something to contemplate. This was my first taste of the "fancy" figs thanks to "Jacks" generosity. They were really delicious. I'm even more excited to put my energy into growing these incredible trees. Thank you for your dedication to the best they have to offer. ;-)

Thanks Herman for your comment. I just tried a ripe CdDG fig (from you via Harvey) (picture above) and the color was dark red, thin skinned, intense looking with a nice acid flavor but it along with the other few figs it produced this first year were disappointing in sweetness. It's good to know that older trees will produce better tasting figs in the years to come. My CdDN from an older tree and another source was very good, among the best I've tasted this year. 

PanamaJack, Great collection!  Your trees look beautiful! And that CDDG looks delicious!

Jodi:  Thanks for the picture, wow!

Yep...still want to visit.  Just WAAAAAY opposite side of town.  One of these days, when I am that way...I will message you to see if you are going to be around. :)
thanks.