Someone asked me this question about figs growing in her Astoria garden recently and although I know they will grow around the Puget Sound area, I don't know if they will ripen, or which are the best cultivars.I will direct her here for any answers you may have. Here's her question:

Is this possible? We face the Columbia (so, mostly west) and would get a lot of sun. The ground is kind of raised - it's about a floor-level above the street. I am excited about planting something - and would eat most of the figs for sure.

She's reading this so I will let her glean from your excellent link. Thanks Gary.

I've seen them growing on Vashon Island and they were huge shrubs. With milder winters along the coast, she may not have that low of temps out there. Enough heat units to ripen the fruit was what I thought could be the problem, but I don't know enough about them, I am curious.

When I reread the article yesterday PM, I noticed a tree referenced in Creswell, Or. But that is a little south of Eugene.

I do know of a local tree on the East shore of Budd Inlet that has survived 60+ years including winters when I've seen ice floating on the inlet. The son of the property owner that owned the land when I was much younger sells plants at the Olympia Farmers' Market. In the past he has had cuttings from that TREE. (I say tree because he has described it to me as about 40' tall and 50' wide.) I'll check to see if he has determined the variety this weekend.

I know of another that has been in place for about 10 years and gives huge August crops. It is a Desert King bought from Mike Dolan of Burnt Ridge Nursery (& Oly Farmers Market).

We've had Vio de Bor for 15+ years (+ a younger Brown Turkey) in pots that do not move inside. Maybe this is the year that I get them into the ground with more sunlight.

There definitely are figs that can take the cold, I have a dwarf Brown Turkey one myself. The problem can be getting much high quality fruit. They need heat to develop the sugars to make them sweet, so give them the warmest spot you can and only grow the varieties that do best in this area. Raccoons do love to eat them.

OK, I talked to Mike Dolan of Burnt Ridge Nursery at The Market yesterday. He knows of several fig trees growing successfully along the Oregon Coast. They need to be Breba crop fig trees because you won't get a 2nd crop late in the year.

What is a Breba crop you ask? I found this explanation at:

"Fig Fruit Facts"

"Fruits: The common fig bears a first crop, called the breba crop, in the spring on last season's growth. The second crop is borne in the fall on the new growth and is known as the main crop. In cold climates the breba crop is often destroyed by spring frosts. The matured "fruit" has a tough peel (pure green, green suffused with brown, brown or purple), often cracking upon ripeness, and exposing the pulp beneath. The interior is a white inner rind containing a seed mass bound with jelly-like flesh. The edible seeds are numerous and generally hollow, unless pollinated. Pollinated seeds provide the characteristic nutty taste of dried figs."

Breba is the small fruit that Terry mentions above on her Desert King (aka, Charlie, King).

The full description of her tree from Fig Facts above is:

Desert King (Charlie, King)
    Origin Madera, Calif. 1920. San Pedro type. Large, skin is deep green, minutely spotted white, pulp strawberry red. Sweet, delicious fresh or dried. Commonly matures good fruit without caprification near the coast. Tree highly vigorous. Hardy, best adapted to to cool areas such as the Pacific Northwest."

I know of some Desert Kings that sure do well here in Olympia. Later this morning, I check on the variety of that Budd Inlet tree I mentioned earlier.

Hi, Barb,

You could plant it now or re-pot it. The re-potting would allow you to move it under cover if we get below zone 8 weather which you may have if you are still near Shelton.

I'd leave it outside to get used to our climate unless the temps drop to the teens or lower.

I do not think that we'll see temps that low this winter though. I believe that it will be cooler in January & early Feb. than it was in Nov/Dec 2010. My recall of our COLD spells (since 1949) places most of the single digit temps at Olympia AP in the second year of a strong La Nina's. NOW in 1955 for example, we set the record lows for this weekend:

1955

Date        Record Low Temp
11/12                 12F
11/13                 13F
11/14                  3F
11/15                 -1F

The max temps those days did not get above 25F and that was in the middle of more than a week with the the only two min temps above 20F. The cold began with less than two inches of snow and we warmed up at the with about 12" of snow before the rain began to melt it all.

I had a great sledding path down a road to the shore of Budd Inlet (about a 75 foot drop). Even with the light snow fall start it stayed hard for more than a week and made my American Flyer into a bobsled on that run. (another benefit was that the neighborhood girls did not want to steer the sled themselves so they often made the trip on my back.)

OH! This is a gardening site isn't it. That La Nina cycle began before April 1954 and we were still in it in July 1956.

We officially went into this La Nina in Jun/Jul this year. In mid-Sept this year DR. Cliff Mass did a blog post with a chart of the number of days in the year or greater than 70 degrees. At the time, 2010 was tied for 3rd place. 1954 and 1955 were 2nd & 1st. You can read Cliff's post at:

"How bad has it been?

The chart of the =>70F days is near the bottom.

Do not count on having a better summer next year than 2010. Put that hoop house on the project list to be done by April. And don't buy/start many long season tomato varieties. Stick with the short season ones. Reacquaint yourself with the varieties that Dr. James Baggett of OSU developed:

"Honoring Plant Breeder James Baggett"

Tomato list at the bottom. The experience with his Siletz of friends and myself has been ripe fruit in late June (once w/ great deck location)in a good summer. With that warm weather, the plant stops setting fruit in the heat of the summer but then begins setting again fruiting for Sept or later harvest.

Is there science in this analog years forecasting? A meteorologist like Dr. Mass would tell you they do not believe in it because they can be reliable beyond seven days. One of his close colleagues did tell me that just a few weeks ago. Since we corresponded though, we've had those warm days with temp records tied or broken in Early November.

WELL, 1949 and 1954 were the beginnings of two of the seven strongest La Nina's since 1948. The two years hold (or tie) 10 of the max. temp records at Oly AP for the 30 days of November. 33% of the max records set in only 2 out of 64 years; 3% of the years hold 33% of the records. I'll make plans on those odds. I sure risked my money on a lot lower odds in my business career.

Think cool season crops and for the flower folks, decide not to push your USDA Zone window for a year or so.

Although the Willamette Valley is a considerably different climate than Astoria, I know of several large fig trees that seem to ripen a crop every year. They are Desert King and Vern's Brown Turkey. The Desert King is notably productive.