Hardy Chicago, Chicago

[mountainfigs]

This Hardy Chicago fig bush was purchased in a grocery store parking lot in Chicago last June, as a one gallon plant, maybe a foot tall, bad shape, the last one, the one no one wanted.

Put it in ground there in Chicago. Then last Thanksgiving about half a dozen unopened bags of mulch were placed on top of it, plastic right on the bark, rush job.

By this spring, 4 trunks about 8 inches long had survived the harsh Chicago winter, plus another trunk about 4 inches long. Plastic did a number on the bark, roughed it up, but the surviving trunks pushed new growth: as of last week 9 trunks ranging from about 2 feet to 3.5 feet tall, quite a few figlets coming on, even before pinching.

[Taverna78]

Which store and streets? I in Chicago and I will verify.

[mountainfigs]

You'll verify, will you? Well, good luck. Technically just outside the west city boundary but in Chicagoland. Don't know the name of the grocery but it was on Cermack, a block or 3 west of the North Riverside Park Mall, on the left if heading west, small grocery, with a makeshift tent and plants set up in the parking lot along Cermak. Don't know if it was there this year again. Can't recall the name of the grocery, never went inside. As I recall it was an odd sounding grocery name to me, so if you figure it out, I might remember it. I asked the vendor if she sold a lot of figs there, and she said that some guy had just come by and bought out all of them, except the last battered one.

[Taverna78]

Sì I can go to store. Is near my work area maybe 25 min. No problem my friend. But I just look on google earth and went up and down cermack where you say. No grocery or market. You sure is cermack?

[Taverna78]

Probably a Spanish name store. Is Mexican neighborhood

[mountainfigs]

My father-in-law tells me that the garden center is set up on the east side of the mall not the west side, off Cermak and Harlem, by Tony's Finer Foods. I had thought the grocery was called something like Tony's Food Place but figured I would remember with more certainty if it actually had my name in it, though as it turns out it did, and I didn't. Last year, I got the last fig plant in June, so don't know if they would have any left by this point this year. Either way, I would be curious to know if they get their Hardy Chicagos from someplace local.

I'm not sure what all is in Chicago and area as far as greenhouses and nurseries go. 2 or 3 years ago I went to Adams and Sons garden center by Humboldt Park, and they had a handful of fig trees, maybe 2 or 3 varieties, nice shape but maybe pricey for their size.

[jerrybrother83]

Hardy Chicago!
I have only grown figs for a few years. And have Celeste to base my taste profile on. The other day at the LSU field day I tasted a Hardy Chicago for the first time. It really blew me away. Very berry like that I have read about but never tasted. Definitely my next fig tree or maybe 2. Of all the figs tasted that was the one that really jumped out at me. I have most of the other figs there. "Thanks to Brian." That really stuck out to me. I have several other dark figs that I will taste this year for the first time. If there in that catagorry I must say I will fall squarely in the dark fig camp. Celeste is my favorite to date but I am open to change or at least spreading my taste around. Now I have to Google it to find something else to call it besides Hardy Chicago. I may have a smart phone but I'm still a southern boy that can't offer a Yankee sounding fig to decent folks that visit. What would the neighbors think?

[mountainfigs]

Especially when IDing via leaf shape, I sometimes think of the Mt Etna type as the Sword fig. I don't recall any other type that can consistently develop or extend that central lobe so far in comparison to the other lobes, which can grow jammed back at the base of the jagged sword blade, like an ornate hand guard.

[mountainfigs]

It's said to be called Mongibello in Sicily where it's said to be dominant:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1898392/italiangirl174-and-mongibello-fig

[Harborseal]

Hardy Chicagos are very under rated. They taste great, are very productive and will ripen good tasting figs as long as the highs are in the mid 60s. Salem Dark is another fig like that. My HC has a cherry taste. The Salem Dark has a different taste. I've never tried SD in the ground but it's definitely a fig worth having. I don't know of any other figs that will produce great tasting figs with temps under 78.

[mountainfigs]

Update on Hardy Chicago, Chicago tree:

Double and sometimes triple stacked interlocking unopened bags of bark mulch covered by a sheet or two of plastic allowed my father-in-law in zone 5 Chicago area to bring a Hardy Chicago bush through winter with barely any tip die-back. Above ground burial. Five 4 foot tall trunks came through, including some multi-branched near the top. Also, a three foot, a two foot, and a one foot trunk came through unscathed. Eight trunks total. Wouldn't be surprised if it fills out to six by eight or even eight by eight or more and bears heavily. Currently has several breba figs, though assume will drop.The tips of the main crop figs are set to push out. Some of the new growth, and there is a lot of it, is a foot long. Last fall he mounded bark mulch about a foot up in the middle of the bush where the trunks were bent over most sharply. He was afraid the trunks would snap there near the base when he put the bags on but did not. He's in his early eighties and this is his third summer growing figs.

First photo is of the bush tied up to raise the limbs from winter. Other photos are of the bush limbs released. Bad pics I know. Released, the bush seems strong enough but gets windblown. Maybe should tie it up for the summer so that energy goes to producing fruit rather than resisting wind? Let it bush out from the eight limbs bound together rather than let sprawl?

[zone5figger]

Way to to HC! Not completely clear on the protection given, were the bags of mulch piled directly on top of the plant, or around it?

[mountainfigs]

All over it, like a blanket, like ground above ground, a full "burial" with no dirt moved. The fig bush was laid down in the direction the wind pushed it all summer.

[fitzski]

looks good, Tony.

I vertically bury my HC and it has come through fine the past two winters.

Here's how I bury mine.

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-h...-in-ground-fig

Hope you have many figs. I usually pinch a few of the limbs on my HC so I get figs a little earlier than September.

[mountainfigs]

That's like building a second house, no? A little house. I can see how it would work though. Even my father-in-law's method would be quite a project for more bushes than a few.

[fitzski]

Yes, a small little house for the fig. And yes I think it would only really work if you had a few in ground figs. I'm going to try and put a few.more in ground this year. Now, I'm trying to figure out what kinds ... decisions, decisions...