Thanks for the report Henry, his ranking of figs was especially interesting. Like you, I'm a bit surprised at his low regard for Negronne, and that he likes Hardy Chicago better than Sal's (EL?). But this just underlines the point that each person has to judge each variety for oneself as to taste -- and that local growing conditions will change the quality of any fig variety.

I would love to meet Ray, I think that he is responsible for
me getting seriously interested in figs. Originally I had
bought a BT and Celeste (source forgotten), and then by
accident, I discovered Ray's fig site, read it all, and
bought his little booklet, and then got more varieties.
Now I have tons...

I rank Hollier one of my best. Alma is a keeper sweet fig,
as is Negronne (VdB?). Brunswick(s) are rain spoiled.
Surprised that he acquired an LW (small world after all!).

George (NJ).

I suppose one can change their mind. As Gene says, tastes and growing conditions differ. I read this on Google,
Do it yourself/Fabulous Figs.

In the South, fig enthusiasts Diana Lalani at Hidden Springs Nursery in Cookeville, Tennessee, and Ray Givan of Savannah, Georgia, rate 'Celeste' "best flavored." Lalani considers 'Brown Turkey' a close second, and Givan follows with 'Alma', 'Hardy Chicago', 'Excel', and 'Flanders', in that order.

Yeah George...Ray's booklet was one of the first pieces of written material that started me off too :)

Peg, that is interesting. However, as I understood Ray's poor ranking for Alma, there wasn't an issue with flavor. While the presentation was only 30 minutes and I was having to write quickly to keep up I am quite positive I didn't misunderstand the Alma ranking. The reason I'm so sure about this is that Ray actually stopped and asked if anyone in this area had success with Alma. Two of us spoke up and reported very positively on Alma. That's when I think he made a comment about not getting enough figs from his tree(s) (rather than the fruit itself being inferior). So, I guess there isn't necessarily a contradiction after all.

I discarded my Alma For the same Reason:could not make it fruit ,in 4 years.Only a couple of fruits,wich were,very good but not excellent.
As for the Violette de Bordeaux,I think he has the Fred Born,cultivar,wich get Damaged by cold in colder climates.
Edible Landsc.,and Raintree both these nurseries,have different cultivars of Violette de Bordeaux.
In other words there are at least 3 violette de Bordeaux,distinct cultivars.
So when someone say his Violette de Bordeaux is poor quality,and yours is excellent,then he might be talking about a different strain.
Henry ,Thanks for letting us Know all this valuable information.
Best regards

Agreed with Herman2. I have 2 VDB and the fruit shape is different. Fruit size & interior resemble each other but fruit shape is different, so is the taste. The rounder fruit taste better than the one that is not as round.

I too have at least 2 different VdB cultivars. Two different variations came from EL. They are distinctly different. One has very thin, fingerlike lobes on the leaves, and the other has leaves with much wider lobed leaves. I also have a VdB from Rolling River nursery which has leaves slightly wider lobes (actually somewhere in between the shape of the two EL cultivars). I have only had fruit from the EL cultivar with the wider lobed leaves. These fruits were rounder than I expected them to be. They were very good figs. The RR VdB will certainly produce fruit next year, and I look forward to the comparison. The second EL version may or may not fruit next year. Hopefully it will.