Good for you! Next year I’m putting mine in the ground. I put some of my extra Brunswick in the ground a few weeks ago and they immediately put on a good flush of growth. They were in small pots and bagging for more earth! I think in ground is the way to go even if it means digging them up and pruning back for winter. I’ll just keep mine in the ground and see what happens. I figure if I save cuttings and root them I will have back ups.
I’m starting to see ripe figs on everything, some unknowns even. Looks to me many varieties can be grown in zone 6a.
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The story of a cold hardy fig growers life. To little…to late …Disregard the ragweed you see by my fig it’s now mulch!
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You ought to graft that BT over to HC or something else that is precocious.
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I have two hardy Chicago in pots now. Next year will be a better year.
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Hello hoosierbanana long time no see. how have you been? I swear I’m seeing more and more familiar faces every time I long in. What’s up ampersand, how you been?
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I’m having a case of fig envy here, I have figs on some trees including HC but they are still small and I’m not super optimistic they will make it. The only good news is some little fig plants that have died back for several winters in a row are finally growing bigger in spite of it. It takes a lot longer for a fig to get going that way…
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I’m trying in ground figs this year. What happened is a bunch of unknowns rooted well, and I didn’t want 5 of them, even if they were different. Plus I had extra “found” figs. Most are found figs actually. Anyway I heard you should grow in pots a few years first. i couldn’t wait, and planted rooted cuttings. Since I have grown tropicals, I can push vegetative growth if I need to and did with one of them.
I got it to grow to five feet tall. here it is today. See what happens…Sweet Diana Is the cultivar. (probably Celeste).
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Bronze Paradiso starting to really look like something. Forecast calls for a warm dry fall. I bet these will ripen before season’s end.
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Hey Daniel, glad you found your way here. My figs are a couple weeks late this year but finally getting going, nice and dry so they have been pretty good so far.
@Drew51 Figs are truly weeds when you plant them in rich soil and give them a little water to establish, the frustrating part is they will still be growing and soft when winter arrives.
I agree green growth and cold weather don’t mix.
Not Matt, But there are several figs with Paradiso (Paradise) in the name and some are not that similar to each other. There is an old Italian story of old man and his fig tree, and I wonder if sometimes every Italian Family might have had a fig they called Paradiso
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I bought mine from Joe Morle, an Italian fig seller in Boston. Fit your description 
Growth will stop completely in a few weeks. I stop feeding August 1st. Most of my figs will be protected from freezes and slowly hardened off. Mostly due to the Great Lakes. Winter is very slow here. Kept away by the lakes. All went very well last year.
I have five in ground figs, and all in different micro-climates. If they all die, no big deal, just extra plants. Trying to learn more. I have to keep it interesting. My main collection will be protected, and ready. Now my southern high blueberries, well I’m still trying to figure them out. I lost one last winter. Hoping I fixed the problem. All others were hurt, but lived.
I know though that figs can survive here, one member here has in ground figs. He lives a few miles away. All I’m hoping for with this fast growth is to create a large root system to make it through zone 5b, without protection. I’m not even going to try and save any growth above ground. I could, and may in other years to learn more. Let’s start with the nukes though!
Purported to behave similar to Strawberry Verte and Battaglia Green-- Bronze Paradiso fruit begins life as a green nub but gets a brownish-bronze speckling as it ripens. There are pics that can be googled on the internet. @fruitnut has previously said that these 3 varieties are among his favorite figs- sweet with a reddish center. The pair growing on my bush are the first I’ll have the opportunity to taste…
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You are right about the root system, that tree will have no trouble growing back even without protection because it has started suckering and has buds below ground ready to go. There is really nothing I can do to slow mine down once they get going, last year’s bushes froze in October and have several 1" trunks by now.
I planted a Celeste years ago with 3" of compost as mulch and that thing would grow 10’x10’ back from the ground but never made more than a few figs, most of which dropped. Even protecting the trunks did not help, just too many leaves and branches.
Yeah I will try various cultivars and see if something works. It should keep me busy for a long time! I may dig figs up and put others in etc. Again this is just for fun. Deciding what figs to keep in containers, and which to scrape is also a tough decision. I can’t add anymore for a bit for sure till I cull some out. An unknown yellow is producing first year, not even sure where I got it? It turns yellow then bronzes over when near ripe. Red Lebanese also produced first leaf. Just a few. Look like both keepers to me!