Jim:If you live in NY area,and not in the northen part of New York State,Then what grow best here in New Jersey will grow in New York too. So far here in my backyard,Hardy Chicago,and Marseilles vs black made it into large trees,and again this winter they come out in one piece,in ground. I did protect them from the cold ,the first 2 or 3 winters,by using old blanchets,rugs,and wrapping them the best I could. Now They are about 7 years old or more and finally adult trees,so I do not plan to protect them anymore. I did have a lots more fig tree in trial here but can't say that any have done as well as this 2 when it comes to winter resistance. Best Regards VS

Tampa Bay fig grower here. Figs grow in abundance here. Tarpon Springs has a large number of Greeks, and most of them have fig trees in multipe varieties. All of my 14 trees (including new cuttings) grow fine here and the fruit never splits if the trees are in rich soil with a layer of mulch on top. South Florida can indeed be a challenge, but you just take precautionary actions, like, you can grow them in large containers with which you can make a container cover for the rainy season(s). No matter what the problems, in Florida, you can grow figs and reap the benefits. It's always harder for our northern and western friends. Drought and cold are the real killers.

Nice list, Bear. Always good to hear other growers' experiences, especially those who are in less than ideal climates. I'm in my first year growing figs, so my collection is small. I've tried to concentrate on varieties that will produce well in containers here in my zone 5 Maine location. Maybe in a couple years I'll try a few in-ground. MBVS- Started these this year from cuttings, now 3' tall. Brown Turkey- Probably graft these over to something earlier. LSU Purple- too good a price to pass up at the Whole Foods. Celeste-small 1st year plant Salem Dark- same Now starting some cuttings to have a bit of greenery indoors through our long winter months. Desert King, Hardy Chicago, Petite Negri, Genovese Nero, Nero 600, Magnolia, LSU gold, Galbun, Celeste. No figs yet, but I got the bug! I'm open to recommendations for 'must haves' suitable for my location.

This year have her take a close up of a leaf with a whole ripe fig and a cut ripe fig next to a quarter for size. THEN we'll have a better chance for ID. We need to know the color of the outside of the fig when ripe and the color of the inside of the fig. Tell her to describe the flavor best she can. Is there a crunch? Does it taste like berry, figgy, rich, honey. Is the skin thick or thin? Does it produce a Breba crop in spring on old wood AND a main crop in fall on new wood, or only one crop. If so when? :-) You didn't know it would be this complicated, did ya? There are over 700 varieties of figs so ID aint as easy as you would think. The leaves look a lot like Brunswick, but other varieties show the same long fingered feature. Your sis can go to this site and scroll through everything to maybe ID it herself: http://figs4fun.com/Varieties.html