Woo hoo! We now have 12 entries in the summer gift exchange name contest! 5 more names came to our e-mail in the last 5 minutes! (I have a feeling it has something to do with GardenWeb having had trouble with their e-mail system. Seems to be working now!) Boy, these names are ALL great! It's going to be so much FUN to have the contest! Remember, you have until March 13th to submit a name! Then, we'll have a vote! (The winner gets a junk treasure box from me...your own personal Junk Train to keep! LOL) Thanks to those who entered so far! You're all so dog-gone creative...not only in garden junk but with your words! Keep the names coming! Bear Hugs! Kirk

June bearing produce a large number of berries, whereas only a few everbearing do. I plant both, but once the Junes are done, it's scare. If you're going to process the berries it's nice to have a large quanity. If you like having only a few berries everyday plant everbearing. Depends how many plants you have. Many feel June bearing are also better eating, but I have Elan F1 everbearing and the first berries were very tart, the rest are fantastic, and it is quite the producer for an everbearer. Problem is I only have one plant, and it only threw one runner. Everbearing tend to lose production faster too, after a few years they are done. June bearers could last 5 years. It all depends on cultivar. Some everbearing are only good for 1 year.

I responded privately but will also reply here - I live near Kanas City and am growing many varieties of figs to see which ones do the best being grown in containers. I grow only one fig in the ground right now and have a winter protection plan that worked very well. I also grow some native fruit trees (persimmon, hazel, plum) and domesticated varieties of pear, plum and apple. I have also spent a lot of time researching native prairie plants and roses. I have been doing some heavy research on various fig topics for the past two years - mostly for the joy of learning something interesting about a very unique plant. I have compiled a very large list of research papers, articles, web resources, nurseries, books, etc. Write to me if you are interested in digging further into this topic. I grew up in South Texas and fondly remember the stewed figs that Mom cooked up every summer. I don't know what kind of fig it was - just a med to lg brownish fig. Fig interests started brewing about 5 years ago when I dug up the 'frozen to the ground' stump of a fig in my dads new residence and brought it home on the airplane. I'll continue to post interesting things that I come across as I have time. Right now I am hoping to shed some light on the origin of figs in the replanted orchards at Monticello. Ingevald -

>>>So can I assume that any/all fruit bearing varieties in catalogs that state that they require a pollinator "for better production" or "for a larger harvest" are cloned cultivars? Yes, but be careful. This is not the same as when the catalog says "buy two for better fruit production" or "requires a pollinator, buy two" and there is only one kind to choose from. In this case the plants are seedlings, and are therefore genetically different. They are different clones, but not named cultivars. Now if the catalog says: "requires pollinator for fruit production" instead of "requires pollinator for better fruit production", the answer is still pretty much yes, but... 1) If the species is dioecious, where there are male plants and female plants, then of course, an opposite sex would be required as a pollinator, and both male and female may or may not be cultivars. However in most cases, to determine the sex of an individual plant, seedlings must be grown to adulthood, so practicality necessitates clonal propagation, usually of named cultivars. 2) In a few cases, different self infertile species can pollinated each other. In such a case, "requires a pollinator" does not dictate clonal separation (within the species), just species separation. Therefore, the plants of either species may or may not be name cultivars.