Does anyone know where I can purchase the Hardy Chicago a.k.a. Bensonhurst Purple fig tree?
Thanks for your help.
Where to buy Fig Bensonhust Purple - Hardy Chicago
I got mine from Edible Landscaping
http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/?gclid=CJbZjLWC7JwCFZJM5Qodg2LIsA
greenhouse_gal - thank you! I purchased my blueberry bushes from edible landscaping and they were beatiful plants. I will certainly buy the fig tree from them. I looked at your link, but the Hardy Chicago is not available at this time.
I am currently on vacation in Williamsburg Va. (left hubby home to take care of the dog) - and there are fig trees growing all over the place here. Another vacationer over heard me saying that my fig tree never gives figs, and he told me about Hardy Chicago. He said it doesn't produce many figs, only around 150 per year, but for the two of us, I think that will be enough - and I can always buy two plants.
Thanks again for the link :)
Honeybee, we are trying to find a variety that will withstand our winters. We loved being able to pick figs from trees growing wild in the south of France, and it would be wonderful to be able to do that here. We have some fig trees that wintered over well last year but this past winter was more severe and they died back to the roots. I think we'll still get a few but we've never approached 150 figs! That would be heaven!
There are several others on that site that are good for zones 6 - 8 or 9, and those are the ones we ordered, including Hardy Chicago.
It would seem that Hardy Chicago wouldn't be hardy in Chicago.
My sentiments eggzackly. What's in a name, after all.....?
The person who told me about Hardy Chicago said they would take temperatures down to 5 degrees. He also said that one problem with other figs is they are sensative to temperatures around 20 degrees, especially when you get a warm spring, then the temperatures drop into the 20's. When that happens (as it does frequently here) he said they need to be covered against the cold - which you don't need to do with Hardy Chicago.
That's all very well, but winters here always dip below zero, sometimes considerably below. The plant seems misleadingly named.
Maybe it was named the way Greenland was - with hopes that it would be as it was called? Or that at least it would fool people into trying it?
LTilton - you are correct - the name is certainly misleading :(
Even it's other name: "Bensonhurst Purple" is misleading - surely it's just as cold in Brooklyn as it is in Chicago?
Maybe this is a similar thing as the different types of Pizza - each city thinks "their way" is the "best"
Is it at least purple?
LTilton - NOPE! It's described thusly: "Brown, rich and sweet."
According to the Raintree Nursery Catalog, it is named the Hardy Chicago because it was found growing in a garden in Chicago.
I started a Brown Turkey late in the spring and have eated a few figs off of it already. It is loaded with more but doubt they will ripen in time. I'm in 7a in the newer maps, 6b in the older ones.
This fig came from Raintree Nursery. I've had good luck with them.
Interesting - the Raintree site has two listings for this fig - one for fall shipping. That one claims the coldest hardiness zone to be 6, while the other listing says 7.
Given the revised zone map, a plant hardy to 6 might have a chance to survive in Chicago, particularly near-the-lake where the temperatures are moderated. But 7 - no way.
We had one fig off a Marseille that we planted this spring; the others, Madeleine de Deux Saisons, Hardy Chicago, and Celeste didn't bear at all. Our old fig trees, of unknown variety, died back to the ground after last winter, and although they're loaded with figs, I doubt that they'll ripen in time. They don't seem to be going anywhere. Last spring they made it through the winter and we had a nice fig harvest, but alas, not this time....I selected the fig trees we just bought because all of them had hardiness zones down to 6. Edible Landscaping accidentally sent us a Violet de Bordeaux (Negronne) instead of the Marseille but they shipped a replacement right away and we still have the Violet de Bordeaux. It's hardy only down to 7b, so we planted it up against the south wall of my studio instead of in the garden with the others. We're on a small river so hopefully that will moderate the temperatures, too.
I think we're in 7a according to the revised zone maps, although we were actually always in 7 based on the guides and seed catalogue listings. We are trying to figure out the best way to overwinter these guys so that we don't have to start from the ground up next year. There are large fig trees growing a few miles away that don't take any care and I always wonder how those people managed it.
I wonder why Raintree lists two zones for the Hardy Chicago. They're very helpful, so you could always email or call them to find out.