Oh, sorry, I mainly have ironwood, beech, elm, oak, plum, quince, crab apple, sweet gum, hackberry, hawthorne, japanese maple, sugar & silver maple, gingko, dawn redwood, bald cypress. I also have a few evergreenes (deodora cedar, atlas spruce, jap black pine) Thank you, I know this is a long list, even just a general comment on how to treat deciduous vs. evergreen in terms of initial trunk chops and heavy pruning would be greatly appreciated. thanks again.

Brooklyn white is one of the figs in our cold hardy fig test plots. It appears to be to late for our area It has not performed that well here in our 5b/6a part of Connecticut. I'm considering pulling it out or top working it to a more early ripening fig like Marseilles Black VS or Danny's Delight. Danny's delight out performed Marseilles Black VS, this year, 2012. We are growing and testing for cold hardiness and other attributes needed to successfully grow cold hardy figs in the north, Brooklyn White, Danny's Delight, Hardy Chicago, Hardy Hartford, Ronde de Bordeaux, Sal's Corleone, Sal's EL, Abruzzi, Hanc's English Brown Turkey, LaRadek's English Brown Turkey, Atreano, Kathleen's Black, Bayernfeige Violetta, Gino's, Rocco, and others. The sweetest fig we have in our collection of maybe 20 or so figs is Bayernfeige Violetta. It is so sweet we have to cover it with mosquito netting to keep the flies off of it. Plus, it needs extensive management to grow it in the north. Because it is ever bearing we have to remove 75% to 80% of the fruit around July 15th, to avoid having a tree full of green fruit, when frost comes. But, we still end up with over 100 fruit on the tree. Bob zone 5b/6a Connecticut

Yes it will dieback each season . My experience - Here about 1 hour south of Chicago i planted a potted 10 year old hardy chicago 3/4 years back in open area no protection in winter and it does die back each season near ground level. Some limbs die completely but i always bend several down at end of season and shovel dirt on top to insure its survival with a spare plant in 30g container. Its survived the harsh winter every one was talking about a few years back uncovered with lowest temp 23 below zero but again much dieback. Last season i cut it down low and threw a tarp over i for winter and it looks much better and figs will come not so late tjis year. It did have dieback but not as much. Back in the 1960s grandmother lived near Midway airport in Chicago had a single trunk plant that was tall and each year my uncles would dig a trench and knock tree over into it and place plywood over it then dirt so as to not damage it when taking dirt off it spring . Looked like a fresh grave. We always had many figs to eat. Martin

HU5….......4, Are you planning to provide winter protection for your Celeste? Celeste is a Southern variety. Your winter is too harsh on an unprotected tree for it to thrive for you. Even Chicago Hardy will need winter protection in your zone. Alternatively, your Celeste, depending on its size, may be grown pot cultured. If you can get the majority of its root mass into a pot, I would suggest pot culture. In my case, a 15 gallon pot is too large to move easily. I find 10 gallon pots to work best for me. One last point.....Does the Celeste grow and fruit in the zone 7 garden of the current owner? A 5 year old fig tree should be producing a crop. How does the current owner get the Celeste through the winter? Moses