I know Violetta de Bordeaux is from personal experience. I have heard the same is true of LSU purple from others.

Thanks for those suggestions. Here's my thinking from limited experience, VDB is very similar to Vista, a small good producing dark fig, right? For me Vista has been good but not nearly as good as Strawberry Verte or Paradiso.

LSU purple seems to get lots of love. I think it would be worth planting, thanks.

I've never tried Vista or heard it compaired to VDB. I know what the description says at figs4fun. However VDB is a medium fig, not small. To my taste it tastes very good but not as good as Paradiso. While Paradiso is larger it does not produce anything like VDB. VDB also has the virtue of growing very fast to its point of maturity and producing closed eye figs.

I have never tried Strawberry Verte. figs4fun lists it as only producing a breba crop.

I just did a search and found an auction listing which says Vista and VDB have the same DNA.

Funny though at figs4fun Vista is listed as a medium to large fig and VDB is listed as a small fig. The description for VDB says it's considered to be the best tasting fig by many while Vista just says it's known for having good flavor.lol

Warning!!! Take all figs4fun descriptions with a large grain of salt.lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Fig descriptions

I have limited experience with Flanders, last year my 2.5 year old ripened one fig. It had 2 bigger than the rest, I removed all the smaller figs in late July. I had to bring it into the sunroom to get them to ripen. One dropped and the other swelled. All my other figs went dormant long before Flanders ripened that fig around late October or early November. Those two bigger figs sat for sooo long in the stagnent stage, maybe because it was young or maybe becasue that's what Flanders does..I don't know, time will tell.

I split the fig with my daughter, we both said mmmm. So it earned a place for another year.

I can see where quite a few breba embryos are forming, too bad I will have to remove them all after dormancy to hasten the onset of next years main crop. Also, Flanders leaves do have a relatively strong cat pee smell compared to my other figs, this might be acceptable in a greenhouse but kind of sketchy in the sunroom; seeing I'm not big on cats.

thisisme:

If you like Paradiso you might want to try Strawberry Verte. They taste about the same and Paradiso may be a little bigger but SV may be more productive and has a tighter eye. I say may because while I've had two good years of production from both I probably couldn't tell them apart. So they may be like Vista and VDB. I've found it takes years of good production to really get a feel for any fruit.

cis4elk:

Thank you for your input. Flanders may not be a zone 5 fig unless you have a greenhouse. I guess that's part of my interest, being able to grow something that most can't. But mainly it's described in places as being exceptional in a long hot season area.

I like to think that figs are highly variable rather than view all the available data as conflicting. If you then factor in taste preferences, which are usually divided along the lines of those who like Brown Turkey types (Black Jack, etc) and those who don't, it's easy to see why some folks may get confused. The good news is that there are no bad figs (expect those that don't bare fruit).

That said, I'm not sure if a long season fig is the right concept, and not in the same sense as apples and such. for a longer season you want to look for a variety with reliable breba crops and excellent main crops. That will give you the longer season most years, while weather and other factors will determine how long the main crop runs. This is why if you check out the DWN harvest chart, you will note that the fig section is a huge block with all the varieties lumped together. If you find a good breba crop fig you can start eating figs as early as June/July if conditions are right.

VdB will keep going with main crop figs as long as the weather is warm enough into November. Some years there are figs left unripened or not pushed due to cold.

Here is a link that might be useful: DWN Fruit Harvest Chart

Brown Turkey and Black Jack are sweet but not nearly as sweet as Strawberry Verte. I don't enjoy the taste or texture nearly as much as the drier, sweeter types. But to each their own.

Really I'm just looking for a little variety. SV bears until it's too cold to ripen if I can keep it growing long enough.

The new Sierra and Sequoia sound interesting as well but don't seem widely available.

Fruitnut, I understand completely. One of the key variables for figs is location. There are huge differences between inland, coastal and desert. Black Jack is very sweet here, I'm inland with it planted on a south facing wall with blast furnace type of summer heat. I've had regular Brown Turkey locally on mature trees that aren't nearly as sweet.

Another dividing line that I can see for figs is classic fig flavor (Black Mission/Fig Newton filling) versus jammy types (VdB or Panache). If Verte is classic, look at jammy types. Some figs may take a few years before they settle in and bear their best tasting fruit.

mrclint:

Thanks for those comments. I think you are right on point about environmental influences. Water, sun, and heat are bound to make a huge impact on fig eating quality. I'll try to turn up the sun and heat and tone down the water. That should make sweeter BT and BJ types.

I'm not sure where SV fits into the taste profile. But will hopefully find out as I try more types.

Thanks again!

Try :Improved Celeste(O'Rourke Not).

herman:

I've tried Celeste and Blue Celeste, both awful figs. I don't understand how lots of others like anything Celeste. Mine have had fruit the size of grapes that don't taste nearly as good as any decent grape.

It would have to be greatly improved to get me interested but thanks for the suggestion.

I have a greenhouse for Figs and Citrus. I can say maintaining a greenhouse is a pain in the A...Plastic siding is not enough you have to insulate it or you will never be able to get the temp to what you want.