I've ordered from Willis Orchards.(is this the one you ment?)

My first order with them was for 2 figs and a mulberry. The Celeste was a little over the size stated, and the Italian Everybearing fell within the mentioned size. (I bought the 1 gallon sizes back in Nov 2007)

And fyi: i think they ship out 'whips' unless noted that it is branched.

I will probably be putting in an order for a mid-sized pomegranate within the next few days.

How do you know the fig didn't survive winter? If it is in the ground, i wouldn't give up on it quite yet. I have had many semi-hardy perennials come back months after the weather warmed up.

Well I don't know for certain but I thought I was doing a good thing wrapping it in some old carpet but the carpet had a rubber bottom (stupid!) and it didn't breathe so I just took it off and it was really wet and the trunk feels soft so I think it rotted out. It's only about 2 feet and Willis has 5 footers for about $80 shipped so I may just purchase one. I was just looking for other possible orchards.

Yeah it sounds like it rotted. Honestly for zone 7 I'm not sure you need to protect it at all, unless you have alot of wind.

Maybe I got my zone wrong. I'm near Philadelphia. Kind of a 6 or 7 but a really bad winter will do a young tree in. once they're older, they're usually okay.

Aren't there any local nursuries that sell what you want? $80 for a five foot tree sounds awfully expensive to me. Here in California just about any nursury or big box store sells fig trees, with typical prices being $22 to $29 for a five gallon size that would be about three or four feet tall.

Over the last several years I've ordered almost all of my fruit trees from Raintreenursery.com, and have always been satisfied with the quality and prices. I just checked their web site and they have about 10 varieties of figs, and they're all about $20.

Californian - THANKS! Keep in mind I'm in PA not CA so things are quite different.

For example, on the surface it looks like you're comparing $30 to $80 but consider that this does not include shipping and can you imagine shipping from CA to PA? Luckily thanks to all the folks out here I did find a nursery in PA that is realtively close that has brown turkeys (and others) in stock at 4' for about $40.

My Texas Everbearing Fig froze back to the ground in winter 06/07. It grew back from the roots in May 2007. Now it is more than 4 foot tall. I thought my fig died but it came back. Your fig may still be alive based on my experience.

Your best bet is to find a source locally in driving distance, where you can actually see the plant in the nursery. Catalogs can put a lot of glossy photos out but the nature of postage and handling make it tough for them to be able to deliver high quality, and the temptation to cut corners, "out of sight out of mind" is far greater for a mail order co. who doesn't have to face their customers.

You don't necessarily need one trunked five footer that is shaped like a tree. In your zone, it will freeze to the ground every year and start growing from the base. Whatever is closest to the ground will survive, so getting a tree that is low to the grown and branches out more horizontally is ideal if you want MORE fruit production. Do you have a nursery near by where you can choose a low growing plant? I got mine at Calloways and it was a very large tree for 24.99

Dying to the ground is quite normal for figs the first and possibly second years in zone 7 (depending partly on just how cold it gets) but once established, they are considerably hardier. Probably your best protection is a big mound of oak leaves or some other mulch that doesn't pack down and stay wet. My own Brown Turkey died the ground its first year, almost all the way its second, retained about 4-5 feet of wood the third, and had virtually no dieback the fourth and fifth years.

BTW there are many good-sized figs here in Washington, DC (zone 7) and even some in the Philadelphia area. If they are properly sited in a sheltered location, once established they can survive several years without dieback. They will eventually be cut to the ground by the coldest winters, but will usually survive and resprout from the base.