LL Bean's holiday commercial ("The snow is coming down on this New England town...") makes the NE seems so charming! And then I think about being cold all of the time...it makes 90/90 summers (90 F, 90% humidity) seem downright bearable. For those of you who dream of moving south, you'll feel right at home here in the NC Piedmont. We have a HUGE influx of folks from NJ and NY! Yes, our summers are hot and humid, but the weather is delightful from October through June. Of course, we're getting a bit of that cold air here as well -- our low on Friday night is forecast to be around 10 F (very unusual), so I too am taking precautions with my figs and other potted plants. Good luck to everyone... As for the global warming comments, the shift to the "climate change" label hardly qualifies as vacillation. Rather, it better reflects the reality of what we face -- an overall, average warming trend that is likely to make weather a whole lot weirder (the key here is "weather" as opposed to "climate" -- there's a big difference). Some areas will be warmer, some colder, some drier, and some wetter. The climate will be warmer, but local weather may be anything but.

In my experience growing fig plants over the years Mission plants included they grow up Vertical and with horizontal branches of course. But look at the picture at top of thread posted 8 years ago and follow those horizontal branches to where they intersect with the main leader and see the stump it has been severed thus causing plant to spread its branches in a horizontal fashion. Ficus carica <fig tree> can be pruned and staked to grow how you want it as they are very forgiving Martin

I have one in the ground on the coast in NYC. It took a couple of years to get going but now it is a monster. The last 2 years especially have given me probably a thousand figs. My only knock is that some years (I guess dependent upon the weather) the figs are just o.k. and not great. It also sours a bit more than a Latarulla that I have 50 feet away from it. I would get a REAL latarulla, the one with the red interior instead. Like I said they are close to each other. The kadota gives me way more figs but the latarulla figs are way better (tastier and less prone to splitting or souring). Also I dont cover either fig ( or a celeste right next to the Kadota), and all 3 give me figs every year. If I had to rate their cold hardiness I would say Lat. best, celeste 2nd and kadota 3rd, but all 3 are at least in my climate great and have been in the ground with minimal dieback for years.

I've it, (a small plant) but I'm in Italy. I've found it in a mountain in North Italy, Z-7, mother tree is imposant, figs are long, big, with thick peel, dark blue uniform color, Leaves are deeply lobed, ripens (a lot) in mountain in first day of August. Ciao, Sergnic