Vinnie, i tried them today and they were to dry and just did not impress me first one was tart , second was less tart, third one similar and they remine me too much of fignuttens type cookie i bought in past and do not care for, im not being bias or anything but i would not purchase these again and will suffer thru this winter without anymore dry figs. I liked mine much better they were sweeter by far i just need to pick the right time like i did last year when figs were getting nice and ripe and hot weather was with us, maybe i try to dry in car as some have suggested also i dry more next year. I looked for anything fake on package of these kalamata figs but it said natrually dries figs with no preservatives which is a plus. They had piece of stem on it so dried with skin on and these must be the white ones as they are light in color unlike my dried ones which are all dark types thats all i grow. Also i tried drying with skin on and off with no big difference except without skin they sparkle somewhat when dry i guess cause of the sugar. Hope this helps. Martin

Your neighbors and other growers of fig trees in your climate zone can expect their trees to freeze to the ground and then re-sprout ....maybe...each year. In colder climates, fig trees do not do well unless extraordinary precautions are taken to protect the wood and roots from damages due to sub-freezing temperatures. Wrapping trees will not protect the roots in really bad years. Many growers dig a deep trench and bent the trees sideways, and bury the fig trees under 1 foot of soil/sand, and then heavily mulch. Last winter the weather was so freezing cold, and for so long, that many growers lost their trees. At best, the trees froze to the ground and re-sprouted new stems from the roots. If this happens on a regular schedule, you are essentially growing just rooted cuttings, and your trees will have to expend tremendous amounts of reserved energy just to regrow what was killed off by the cold temps. The figs that may form will form late in the season and may, or may not have time to ripen. Growing trees planted in the ground in colder climates is a crap shoot. You may get away with your trees escaping damages for a number of years...if, the winters are mild...but all it takes is just one bad winter to wipe out your trees. Then you can start over. The younger the trees, the more susceptible to winter damages, but even older, established trees can be killed or badly damaged. Thousands of fig trees in and around NYC were killed. Those that survived are now re-growing complete new canopies. NYC is zone-7, but temps. rarely go into the single digits. Most years, the winter temps. are in the high 20s to mid 30s, or higher. Yet, for years, in ground trees were never damaged. Some NYC fig trees had trunks 5"-8" in diameter. Now, they are dead. Zone-6 is considerably worse than NYC. Frank

Frumchkin, the picture that satellitehead posted for me was not Hardy Chicago. It is a fig we are calling Hardy Hartford. That is until we can identify it correctly. Our Hardy Hartford is different in leaf then Hardy Chicago. The Hardy Hartford plant has leaves that are larger then Hardy Chicago. To me your tree looks like Hardy Hartford, not Hardy Chicago. At any rate, would you email me my email address is robertcharper@gmail.com

Tell us more about what you want, a shade tree or figs to eat. If you want to eat figs, that 'bush' is well formed. I had 4 plants in a 12' x 14' space between 2 driveways in Palo Alto, CA. Each year there is at least the chance of a few days in the mid to upper 20's F. I learned about controlling height after the largest had grown so that I needed a ladder to reach the top. I used it to test out new varieties by bark grafting fresh new growth on the donor tree. I'd suggest pruning to restrict the tree to main crop figs; they are the best tasting in my experience. After the last chance of a hard frost I'd cut last year's growth back to 1 bud facing where I wanted the branch to grow. When that reached 6-8 new leaves I'd start pinching out the new growth buds until the season ends. Some varieties only need one pinching, others send up a new shoot that must be removed before it grows to a point that is out of reach. Do an image search on your favorite search engine for the string "fig pruning" to see the possibilities. Remember, main crop figs form at the leaf nodes. Enough for now, baumgrenze Below are 2 photos, one after pruning in late January 2016 and another in mid-May.