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Figs for Virginia Gardens

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Photo by Rich CD, Morguefile.com

Figs are fruit trees I’ve wanted to grow for a very long time, but I’m kind of intimidated by them. In New York City and on Long Island where I grew up, fig trees were usually found in the front yards of Queens houses owned by little old Italians. You’d see them outside on a lovely fall day covering up their fig trees with blue tarps, roping them in like they were wild broncos, putting a bucket over the end of them. I’d ask my parents, “Why are they doing that to the trees?” and my father would answer derisively, “Figs…too damned demanding.”
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Well, I’ve since learned that fig trees are no more demanding than the apples, peaches, pears, cherries, plums and apricots I’m growing now. In fact, they may be less demanding in Virginia gardens than in other places. Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello, which has cooler winters with more snow than we experience here in the Piedmont region. The trick with figs, I am learning, is to buy the right variety for your area and plant it in the best location possible.
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When a plant has been cultivated for an estimated 4,000 years, as some sources claim the fig tree has been, it must be fairly easy to grow. After all, they didn’t have blue tarps and buckets 4,000 years ago, and materials used to insulate plants were nonexistent (except perhaps for straw or hay). Figs must have been tough to survive the centuries without coddling by people. 
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I’m still in the exploratory stages of deciding which fig tree to add to my garden, and where to plant it.  Because I am no way an expert on this topic, I’ll let you read the experts from various Cooperative Extension offices if you are interested in growing figs in Virginia. Yesterday before church began I was chatting about growing figs with a friend and she mentioned Brown Turkey as the variety grown here in Virginia, and the name has come up for me several times in the course of my research, so I share the name here too as possible variety for Virginia gardens.

 

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  1. Karen Jones Gowen

    So glad you left a comment on my blog so I could find you! Your bio alone would make me follow you LOL. My husband grew up in northern California where they grew figs as well as countless other fruit. The joys of living in a warmer climate!

  2. Damaria Senne

    I have wonderful memories of eating figs from my grandfather’s tree when I was growing up and want to grow them again. But I don’t know enough about them, and it’s not the right season for me yet (it’s Autumn). So I’ll learn about them through winter and maybe come Spring, I’ll be able to take action.

    Good luck with your plant selection.

    P.S. no idea what variety my grandfather grew, but there was also no coddling for that tree.

  3. Jeanne Grunert

    I was glad to meet you too, Karen! It’s nice to befriend another writer. Thanks for leaving a comment (and I sent you a friend request via FB). Isn’t the A to Z challenge great? I am meeting so many neat bloggers!

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