Lucy, If you want to plant the tree for show, too, you probably don't want to net it. Otherwise, some sour cherry trees are naturally small (no more than 15'). Birds may leave some cherries for you if you don't net. There are a number of persimmon that are hardy to zone 6. Check England nursery or JF & E nursery. I know Logee's. It's known for exotic tropical and subtropical plants. If you want fruit trees (I don't count fig as a tree), you'll be better off buying bareroot fruit trees from reputable fruit tree nurseries. Search this forum, there are many of them.

I sat to ponder the taste of the fig. I tried a Light green Peters Honey and decided that the green one must be the best tasting of all... Then my attention turned to a Violette De Bordeaux and I quickly downed it and realized that it was the dark fig that was truly the most tasty. I was proud of myself, for finally deciding, then my wife brought me a nice green Conadria and I was in green fig heaven again, and decided at last it was the green fig. But, then a taste from the Mission fig changed my mind again. Well, I though, after trying one then the other over and over again; if I closed my eyes they were all the same color and that was delicious. Now if you ever wonder if "delicious" is a color of not... Close your eyes and eat a fig. As I wait for my very own, fig trees to grow this year (I am new to growing figs) I can't help but think, the Fig must be one of Gods favorite fruits. He made them so good and with such verity, I have to thank him for the fig; Dark, light, big and small, fat, round, short and tall, just like he made us all..Life is grand... eat more figs.

Breba figs arise from dormant buds that form late in the previous growing season. They overwinter if your winters are not too severe, then start to "pop" just as the terminal leaf buds start to break dormancy, or perhaps, just before those foliage buds start to grow. Many of these brebas will drop off, especially if the terminal leaf bud is present. It has seemed to me that the brebas are more likely to grow if the terminal bud has been removed, but I have not thoroughly tested this theory. I suspect that auxins (plant growth hormones) sometimes inhibit the growth of brebas, at least in some varieties. In most years my Celeste loses ALL of its brebas. Desert King is good for holding on to its brebas. That is real good because the next or main crop will likely not ripen without pollination since it is a "San Pedro" cultivar.

I'm a newbie to figs and propogating cuttings. I received 3 Osborne Prolific. Two of which I bagged and the third I cut in half to experiment around with other methods. What seemed like a long time, 4 or 6 weeks, only 1 in the bag started rooting, but after a few days the roots rotted. I thought I'd wait until the weekend to place in perlite. It was too late after a few days. The cutting I cut in half I put the top half in a cup of perlite and the bottom half in a cup of water. The Perlite cutting was doing well, but I think I got too anxious when I transferred to a larger container and set outside to harden. That cutting died. The last (half-) cutting is still alive on a window sill. Success rate: 0.5 out of 3. I attributed the failures due to my inexperience, excitement (I was probably checking too often and fiddling with the cuttings too much) and the colder than normal weather when I started the cuttings, even though my house stayed about 67 to 70... it just seemed too cold. Are Osborne Prolifics slow growers?