By Pat Malcolm

Fig trees are fruit tree garden favorites. Buying and planting large fig trees can fruit the first year of growing. Two of the best orchard or fig tree garden selections are: Brown Turkey Fig Trees and Celeste (Celestial) Fig Trees.

The fruit of the fig tree was well known in Biblical scripture and a fig tree was condemned to wither by Jesus in the Bible gospel of Mark 11:16 for being barren of fruit. The fig was used numerous times in the Bible to symbolize truths of the scripture, both in the old Testament and the New Testament Bible. The fig tree is a fast growing fruit tree that grows fresh fig fruit over a long period. The brown turkey fig tree and the Celeste (Celestial) fig trees have been important old varieties grown in the United States for hundreds of years. New hybrid fruit of fig trees vastly improves quality and quantity of figs of older selections. Fig fruit can ripen in various mature colors: red, black, yellow, purple, orange, gold, blue, green, and white with a sweet mild flavor. The ripe fig can be dried, eaten fresh, or cooked in a large variety of food such as fig newtons and fig-strawberry jam. The growing size of the fig fruit can vary just like the color. The largest fig grown is the Patrick’s Supergiant fig that can weigh-in at pound. Figs black in color like the the Black Mission fig tree and the Jack Black fig trees are very high in sugar content and date back to their introduction from Spain at the Spanish Missions in California in the 1500’s where the fig fruit was dried like raisins to be eaten later.

Green fig cultivars are important to buy for planting and growing for gardeners who want to avoid birds who love to feast on a red, yellow, or ripe white fig, because the birds do not see the green color of the Japanese Green Ischau fig or green Kadota fig among the green leaves.

For gardeners who prefer black fig fruit, the Jack’s Black fig and the black mission fig are tasty fig tree cultivars. The Black Mission fig is famous, and was intoduced into California by Spanish missionaries hundreds of years ago. Jack’s Black fig is very sugary, suitable for dried fig markets and elongated in shape.

Conadria fig trees originated in Europe and are important as a large, fast growing fig tree requiring a big landscape for a large tree. LSU hybridizers have released several notable yellow-gold cultivars; the most popular is the LSU gold fig that can produce two crops in one year. The Nero Caesar fig is yellow-gold in color and ripens with honey-drops of dew on the skin, with a pink pulp beneath the skin. Peter’s honey fig originated in California and the yellow color on the skin is repeated inside the fig that is sweetly scented.

Several white fig producing trees are available to buy from internet nursery sites. The Italian Everbearing fig ripens white, but may age into a cream-yellow skin. Italy is the point of origin for the Italian white fig, big in size and sweetly aromatic with a tasty flavor.

The Osborne fig tree is very unusual, because its color when ripe can vary from white to pink to red, but it is remarkably beautiful in appearance with its dark tapered rips that encircle the fig. The King Fig is big and grows burgundy-red in color on large trees. Some gardeners rate the King fig as the largest, and others rate the Patrick’s Supergiant fig as the largest.

The Mystery fig is a brightly colored wine fig with a delicious flavor, but scientists have been unable to identify this fig tree’s origin, which is still a mystery. Patrick’s Supergiant fig is very large, weighing up to a half pound each. The Patrick’s fig is juicy and sweet with an agreeable flavor. The Tennessee Mountain fig tree is very cold hardy and was discovered growing in the mountain areas of Tennessee where temperatures can fall below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. For gardeners who want to bu a cold hardy fig tree for the North, the Tennessee Mountain fig has survived very cold temperatures as far North as Pennsylvania and New York. TyTy Nursery offers a large selection of small or big fig trees for fast shipment.

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