Humans have been eating fig fruit about as long as anything else. A member of the Moraceae family, this Mulberry relative has been cultivated in the Mediterranean for around 6,000 years. In fact, they may have been intentionally cultivated over a thousand years before the domestication of wheat and rye. Wild Figs often sunbathe in hot dry locations with deep soil, but they don’t need much fertility, which is why they’re also found on rocky ground in higher elevations. They may not need much nutrition, but their shallow roots will reach wide to find standing or running water. That vigorous habit helps them root in hard places, and they’ve been known to bust into house foundations, wrap around roadsides, or weave into living bridges with the help of human hands!

In the Mediterranean, Figs grow massive like their cousin Mulberries. They’re also keystone species, feeding 1,300 different species! Birds disperse viable seeds that survive in drought and flood. Fig’s versatility and resiliency in changing climates makes them a desirable species for tropical reforestation efforts. Of course, the phenomenal fruit doesn’t hurt either. They’re high in B vitamins, carbs, and fiber and have the highest mineral content of all common fruits, with loads of potassium, iron, and calcium. Fruit poultices have been used on tumors, a leaf tea for treating diabetes and kidney and liver calcifications, its juice relieves sore throats and constipation, and the stem’s white latex, which can be incredibly irritating to the skin, has been used for warts, ulcers, a source of latex in rubber, and a symbol of the Roman patron goddess of breastfeeding. Before the global commodification of sugarcane, Figs commonly sweetened desserts. Interestingly, the fruits aren’t really fruits; they’re syconium! Dozens to hundreds of flowers grow into a fleshy stem with an enclosed hollow sac with a small opening at the top for pollination by a wasp who lays their eggs and then dies. Unfertilized ovaries give fig the sweet resinous flavor.

Figs have been symbols of peace and abundance, such as in the Jewish prophetic tradition: "Everyone will sit beneath their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:4). The prophet Muhammad wished to see Figs in paradise more than any other fruit because they didn’t have piths, and some Quranic verses make promises by Fig and Olive. Siddhartha Gautama meditated into enlightenment under Fig boughs. Not just a symbol of peace and abundance but also sex, particularly female sexuality. Ancient Greeks used the boughs the Buddha sat under in rituals to beat fertility into young lovers. In ancient Greece and Rome, "Fig" was a slang term for female genitalia. Some say fig fruit and scent are an aphrodisiac, while others have used the leaves as modesty coverings. Pretty versatile plant!

In our gardens in the Shenandoah Valley, Figs often die back every year from hard winters, but once roots sink deep the stems persist without dying back to the ground. We sometimes mulch them to keep them warm and always plant them in dry soils with full sun, often against a south-facing wall that absorbs daytime heat. An Italian practice involves digging a trench, cutting the roots to allow the tree to bend, and burying the branches under soil and leaves to insulate from the cold. A similar Japanese technique called the stepover method bends a permanent cordon (short single stem with fruiting spurs) along the ground where they can be mulched and sprout vertical fruiting branches every year that can be pruned back. In a cold climate, keeping the pithy stems warm ensures the breba crop: Spring fruit on last year’s shoot growth. The main crop matures on the current year’s shoots ripening in Summer and Fall, and is generally more favored, for quantity and quality.

Most globally commercial Figs are grown in Turkey and North Africa; in the U.S. nearly all commercial Figs are grown in California, brought by Spanish colonizing missionaries in the late 1700s. Edible Figs fall into three types: Smyrna (requiring cross-pollination by fig wasps from caprifigs, or wild species), Intermediate (also called San Pedro, with an unpollinated breba crop but pollinated main crop), and Common (which all have female flowers that don’t need pollination, making them parthenocarpic, or self-pollinating). Over 700 cultivars grow within these three types!

We currently grow five Common cultivars:

Brown Turkey is probably the most popular variety in the Southeast, with bronze-skinned amber-pulped fruit on shorter stems and excellent cold-hardiness. A confusingly named Fig, since they’re sometimes called English (dubbed so by the English Horticultural Society in the 1600s), though they most likely come from Turkey and lots of different Fig varieties are called Brown Turkey. They still taste good and can stand the cold!

Celeste is also called Celestial or the Sugar Fig for the delicious abundant rosy-colored honey-tasting fruit. Wonderful fresh, dried, or preserved as jam. Possibly bred from a tree in Malta, though most likely originating in France and brought to Louisiana. One of the most cold-hardy Figs that can also take the heat, and very popular in the humid U.S. South because of its “closed-eye,” meaning that the small opening at the bottom of the fruit stays closed protecting it from pests or souring in the wet heat.

Chicago Hardy was found by a North American Fruit Explorer in a Windy City backyard in the 1970s, but they most likely descend from the Mount Etna region of Sicily. The name refers to the stems hardy to 10°F and roots down to -20°. Our trees often die way back in extreme cold, but they always spring back from the roots with incredible force with deep violet fruit the following year, which is rare for Figs. They respond well to pruning in midseason to increase early ripening fruit production.

Kadota is one of the oldest and most significant Fig varieties. Originally called Dottato in Italy with a lineage dating back to Pliny the Elder. Botanically, however, Kadota is distinct from Dottato even though it physically sprang from it. Kadota is a “sport”: a random genetic mutation on a single branch that produces a new variety on an existing tree. Kadota was one of the first five Fig varieties cultivated commercially in California, producing a high proportion of California’s Figs with thousands of tons per year, and they still make up a major percentage of Italian fried figs. A little 1920 treatise goes into delicate detail on the origin and cultivation of Kadota with the claim that Kadota is partly responsible for an industry of canning fresh figs “because of its early bearing, tremendous tonnage, certainty of crops, and unprecedented demand for its products and unparalleled cash re-turns enjoyed by the planters who grow this variety.” As a honey fig, the yellow-green skin and amber flesh taste fine fresh, but its flavor shines when dried. Cream jam texture turns into an easy spread after cooking. Kadota doesn’t need many chill hours and ripens early with lots of sunlight and dry soil.

Marseille, also called Oregon Prolific and introduced to the U.S. from France by Thomas Jefferson. Green fruit with sweet white pulp fruiting from new wood. Not as cold-tolerant as the other cultivars, but grows well in protected pots on patios.

We propagate our Figs from cuttings we take in late Fall and overwinter in sand before sticking them into deeply-mulched nursery beds once hard frosts have passed. We also offer dormant Fig cuttings, so be sure to protect them from freeze. You can store them in a cool moist spot (or the fridge) or pot them up permanently or to grow out for a season before transplanting.