Besides earliness of ripening, I tried to select varieties that are different from one another in order to keep things interesting.
Improved Celeste is a sugar fig, it can get very sweet. It has less seed crunch than Florea with has more of a figgy/caramel/brown sugar flavor. RdB is more complex, higher quality, and attractive. But it can split sometimes so it’s nice to have other varieties that are split resistant. Iran Candy is light honey agave flavor, very refreshing. DTE is milder in flavor than RdB but somewhat like a larger version. Teramo is brown sugar/berry and lots of seed crunch. Florea, Iran Candy, DTE all make a bunch of breba crop figs, they are just as good as the main crop, larger and come about a month earlier, a nice feature
In that vid… MG described the taste of his June 30 ripened RDB fig (southern South Carolina) as having the tast of blackberry, cherry with a splash of honey.
It was absolutely georgious cut open, dark, rich looking and very jammy.
The big attraction for me is getting a fig of that quality almost a month earlier than my CH fig.
In past seasons RdB starts to ripen 3 or so weeks ahead of Chicago Hardy(when I used to have it). I’m sure that can be variable depending on where. Flavor and texture wise it is different than CH, the skin is thinner for sure.
I am in Walla Walla WA (eastern WA) and though the climate zone says 7a, it got below 0 degrees for several days in January this year. I have a Florea Fig that I got last year; it fruited in a pot on my patio during the summer, then I put it into the ground in the fall. I mulched it with wood chips. It did freeze to the ground, but came back this spring and so far I see one little fig on it; hoping for more! My Brown Turkey, Olympian and 1 unknown variety from a cutting all freeze to the ground most years, then grow back every year but don’t set fruit most years.
Many figs will survive even lower than -10F in the ground. A lot depends on what’s on the ground – mulch or bare dirt. In any case, stems will die back to their roots and then new shoots won’t have enough time to ripen fruits. That’s been my experience at least.
Figoin, De Tres Esplets. These are both high quality breba. Figoin and Verdolino(which also makes great breba crop). are the earliest green fig/red interior or Adriatic types I have found, very high quality fruit and both also seem rain resistant. The main crop is early enough to ripen here too.
Do you grow any in ground, or pots only? I have been debating whether to attempt an in-ground fig in central BC. Zone 6b supposedly but we’ve seen -20 degrees F for the last three years in a row.
Verdolino, this one might be my favorite green fig, it has an interesting elongated shape, sweet rich Adriatic berry flavor, tight eye, doesn’t split in rain, makes great breba and early enough maincrop for my short season location. The plant is also healthy, productive and not overly vigorous so it’s good for container culture. I need to make some duplicates!
I just saw this. I just added florea and improved Celeste to my yard this year. They are the earliest varieties for this area. I have RDB also, and it is a great early fig with the most berry flavor of all three. I have HC too and RDB is a much for intense berry flavor. It takes a few years for Ronde to start bearing figs. I would definitely grow all of them for earliest crop. I also have a fig I call mystery that is a cherry like flavor and is also very good for this area, maybe a MT. Etna type but flavor is very good and it has been very early for me. Celeste is also a great fig that produces a lot and is also early. I can send you cuttings of Celeste, RDB, and my mystery when I send you cuttings of my mulberry, and maybe a Peters Honey too if your interested is also early enough to ripen in your area and tastes like honey, I wouldn’t buy figs at this point of the season, but rather start cuttings in spring.
