I am in 7B in Va. and I plant everything in the ground without protection eventually.
I have several unknowns, Brown Turkey, Strawberry Verte, Hardy Chicago, Magnolia, Conadria, Golden Alma, Italian Honey, LSU Purple,Celest, and what is supposed to be Black Mission planted in a corner of my house facing South. Everything survives here. When young like first couple years old they often freeze to the ground but in time they survive the Winter quite well..... well, so far. Some varieties are still new to me.
I just started Sals and Negronne. I am waiting for Marseilles Vs Black cuttings.
From the temps you list it looks to me like you might be in 7B also?

Figsin7b, if you're in Va then you're either in 6b or 7a. I'm in 7b which is the southern part of NC. Anyway, I think those I listed will do well here. I'm just going to have to protect them well in winter for the next 2 years. Last Spring I planted the following in the ground unprotected: Kadota, Italian Everbearing, Mission, Brown Turkey, and Black Jack. All survivied but the Kadota, Italian Ev and Black Jack have broken dormancy. I'll post pics tomorrow. Dennis

Snaglpus, there is a small slice of 7b along the coast in VA.

I have what I now believe to be a Celeste that I planted last July. I lost some of the tips to the cold, but it held onto its leaves until late December. So I think it was having a hard time going dormant. Our first hard frost was Dec 5.

Me, I'm planting everything in the ground. And just to be safe, as soon as the first frost zaps the leaves and the trees go dormant, I'll take cuttings and put them in the fridge. I had some in there from early December that are now leafing out and rooted outdoors with no problems. They're further along than any of the ones I used the baggie method on.

I got Marseilles VS cuttings this winter. Of the 4, two look like they're going to make it. I overwatered as usual and killed two of them right after moving them to cups from their bags.

If Mission does not die to ground there,any of the figs you mentioned will do just fine inground for you with no problems over winter,and unprotected.
If any from the group ,Mission will die first to ground.
I tested a lot of different strain of Mission for me here and so far I could not find one to resist cold or compare to Hardy Chicago,or Gino's in hardeness.
Yet just a note I want to add,this winter at least half of the over 100 cultivars I had in trial here died to ground,and many with protection.
But they are not the cultivars you intend to plant inground.
Best Regards

Well you learn something new every day! Wow I did not know parts of Va was in zone 7b. Cool! I kept some trees outside in containers...3 protected and 3 unprotected. I think those protected did worst than those unprotected! I have LSU Gold and LSU Purple, Atreano protected. Meaning I wrapped the base of the tree up half way with tree wrap. The trees survived but the tips were burned by the weather but they are leafing out now. Those in containers unprotected Kadota, Brown Turkey, and Brunswick all look dead expect the Brown Turkey which is leafing out now and doing fine. The Kadota and Brunswick were 3 yr old trees.

However, these 2 trees are in gigantic containers and I think the soil temperature is not warm enough to get them to break dormancy. Tomorrow I will move them to my greenhouse and watch them for about a week and see if they break dormancy. I think they will. More to come later. Cheers, Dennis

Snaglpus
In regard to your trees over-wintered outside in pots where the uncovered did better than the covered: I have noticed that covered plants overwintered in pots survived in much better condition if kept in the shade rather than the sun. It sounds counter-intuitive. I have no explanation, merely the observation.
Cath

Great, thank you Herman. I think my Mission is dead to the ground. So, tomorrow I will run out to Lowes and HD and pick out one or two. It's a shame. That tree produced some sweet figs that my wife loveD! So, I gota plant another. But this time, I'm going to keep the mission fig in the container for 2 years and really protect it outside when I decide to plant it in the ground. I'll post some pics tomorrow before and after planting. Thanks Cath. This winter, I think I'm going to leave 5 of my largest trees out adjacent to the southwest wall of my house wrapped in corn stocks for the winter and see how they survive. cheers, Dennis

I am in zone 7 and my next door neighbor has a strain of black mission that she has in the ground. It's about 5 years old and she covered it every year but this past winter. I just took a look and it looks unscathed. I took a cutting past winter and it's doing fine. It's the BM that has the very large leaves but the figs are not the very large ones that Herman has written about.

I do have Mission with Very large fruits,and with small fruits and more than one,strain.
I will surelly keep them and protect them even better next year because I also,just like Dennis wife, like very much the taste and flavor of a properly ripe Mission fig,taken ripe, off my tree.
I was suuccesfull every year getting a few ripe fruits out my Mission trees,despite the fact,that they usually come out damaged from winter.
H2

My in-ground Black Mission tree that I have growing in bush form, did real well this past winter with very little damage. Like others, I really like the very distinct and delicious taste of a fully ripe BM fig. I would not do without that cultivar in my collection .

Dan

Well we've had SUPERB weather the past few days, 80+ since Thursday! My outside inground trees have broken dormancy. take a look...
{{gwi:768854}}
This one is my Black Jack.
{{gwi:768855}}
This one is my Italian Everbearing
And good news! I thought my Black Mission Figs were dead but their not! See blow...
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This is one.
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This is the second one.
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And this is the third one! They all survived! I am so happy! Next week, I'm going to place one of those thick weed mats on them. Hey are are some other trees I planted in the ground today! Take a look...
{{gwi:768859}}
This is a Brunswick. It was growing so fast that I just had to place it in the ground.
{{gwi:768860}}
This is one fast growing tree I grew last Spring from cutting. It came from a huge bush I found about a mile from my house. The cuttings grew very fast and the foliage is beautiful, I think it's a Celeste. It fruited last year too!
{{gwi:768861}}
I got this one from Bass last Spring. It grew very fast, I had to place it in the ground, too.
{{gwi:768862}}
This one is a Green Ischia that I got from a guy in Florida. This fig was just a tiny little 12 inch tree but look at it now, over 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall! thanks for watching! I think I'm going to plant my Don Fortiss and Gino's Black on Monday. Cheers! Dennis

Will be planting a few trees soon. Targetted variants going in-ground are Marseillies VS, Capelas & Hollier.

I'm late in the game here, but I'd love some recommendations. I don't have much room! I'm in 7 A (western NC) and I already have Sal's, Hardy Chicago, Celeste, Violette de Bordeau, LSU (??), but 3 recent transplants died, leaving room for 3 more. I think a Hardy Chicago cutting will be one, but I have to choose 2 more. Green figs look strange to me, so please recommend black figs or green ones that are so amazing that they would change my opinion! Thanks in advance!!

Ann

I'm also new to figs. I would be surprised if the people posting on this thread 8 years ago will still be here. But, the subject is the same for whoever is. I have just this year planted an Olympian and a Violette de Bordeau in the ground. I have a green Ischia, Celeste, LSU purple, and unknown in pots. I'm thinking about putting all but the unknown in the ground. I travel a lot and can't keep up with the watering. I'm in the north edge of zone 7 in southeast Missouri. I'm air layering some of the trees to make backups in case they don't survive the winter in the ground. Haven't eaten a fresh ripe fig from any of these plants yet. Which of your 3 died? Do your Celeste, Violette, and LSU fare well over the winter?

garymc, Ann - for both of you, your inground figs will produce better with some winter protection. IF you can keep them from dying back to the ground they will produce more the next season.

Ann, I agree with a variety like Hardy Chicago as an excellent choice. Other similar figs that are more winter hardy would be Sal's, Takoma Violet, Marseilles Black(VS)

Ann, a fig like Strawberry Verte, Green Ischia or Adriatic(JH) would be an excellent choice as an extremely tasty, productive green variety. They are all similar.

Other choices I would suggest trying would include LSU Tiger, a little harder to come by, Florea which is one of the hardiest and earliest varieties, and Ronde de Bordeaux-another very early variety. There are many other varieties, some very different and some very similar, that you could consider as well

Thanks so much!

I think many of the previous posters trickled away when Gardenweb became Houzz. I did prefer it before, but it still works!

Eboone, can you direct me to instructions on winter protection? There's little I wouldn't do for my figs!

Gary, my plants were in pots from 2011 until fall 2017 due to moving around a lot. Sal's did fine, Both Hardy Chicago did fine until I planted it in the ground (one of 2 died which I can't explain, but the remaining one is doing fabulously.) In my last real home in Maryland (also 7A), I had Sal's in the ground and Celeste. Sal's was amazing, despite significant die-back in the winters I had plenty of amazing figs. Celeste grew large but never produced figs before I moved away.

My deceased plants this spring are one HC, Conadria (which was given to me and had never thrived), and a Brown Turkey, also a gift, and also didn't like my handling.

I have been pinching the fruit babies for the last 6 years because I didn't want the trees wasting energy, but they died back anyway. This year, Sal's and Hardy Chicago are producing figs, especially HC, but I'm still pinching many in the hopes the plants will stabilize and produce good crops next year.

I've have had 2-3 Celestes die on me since 2011. I keep trying, because I've heard such good things about Celeste, thinking they just don't like being in pots. The one I bought and planted in the ground last year is alive....but I can't really comment beyond that.

My Violette de Bordeau has struggled in the pot....most springs I thought it was dead but it rallied. I've had it for 4-5-6 years? It was one of the first I planted in the ground last year in the hope of saving it. It came back much stronger this spring. Still nothing like Hardy Chicago or Sal's, but at least I think I don't worry about it dying anymore.

LSU purple was new last year, and it survived---barely.

Eboone, thanks for the suggestions! I'll start looking around!

By the way, can either of you tell me when is the season to make cuttings? I used to root them in damp paper towels with good success, but I don't remember what time of year I did it, and the last batch I tried did very poorly....

Thanks so much!

Ann