First crop figs and first leaves forming on garage-protected figs, late March:

    Pawpaw buds of several days ago:     A couple weeks later (March 6), the fuzzy fruit buds begin to blossom, below, after a few broken limbs were clipped and put into a vase of water. No roots can be expected to form, so without roots … not enough energy to fruit:  … Continue reading Spring Snow and Fruit Trees

Due to the severity of the several winters before last winter, all in-ground fig trees here were top-killed to the ground each of those winters, apart from trunks and limbs bent over to the ground and buried in mulch (all of which survived, as they do every year). However, last winter (2016-2017), temperatures dropped only… Continue reading Winter Survival of Fig Bushes

Some 2017 figs:

Coll de Dama Gegantina fig ripe from garage this past week, before the hard freezes hit and after a few days of shuffling into unseasonably warm air and sun. Very smooth berry flavor. Along with premier flavor, this fig shows the distinctive “lady’s neck” of its name.

In ground Mt Etna bushes pumping out the figs in their fall color, mottled. Overnight rain seemed to help spur the fruiting after a dry stretch:  One Mt Etna bush receiving only about 4 hours of direct sun, in cooler fall days and nights, is ripening all of its figs entirely green while remaining very… Continue reading Mt Etna Figs in Fall Color

Some figs take more effort than other figs to ripen well in short growing seasons, especially if they are of varieties that are inherently larger in size or later ripening. The reward is the interesting mix of flavor, color, size, texture… Below, surrounded by 8 Mt Etna figs are 6 other varieties, clockwise from 11:00:… Continue reading Figs on Trial: Preto, Sultane, Paradiso

Mt Etna fig bushes in ground are ripening figs or moving toward it. The figs begin to ripen in late August or early September and continue to ripen until frost, or somewhat after.

Every year I cut back a weed or tree or bush that pokes out a scraggly limb or two from near the corner garage wall through some landscape bushes. Last year the scraggly limb or two had become a dramatic dark leaf compliment to the light green landscape bushes near it, so even though it… Continue reading Peach Tree Surprise