The native birds and I enjoy the giant fig trees (Ficus carica 'Black Mission') in my garden. The sweet experience pleases the birds and leads me to review this beautiful tree.
©Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Sentinel My black fig tree grows twenty feet tall and wide, although it is pruned heavily each year to control size and shape. (Tom Carwin)Native to the Mediterranean and West Asia, the fig is one of the first plants cultivated by humans. Archaeologists date it to between 9400 and 9200 BC. They found traces of a fig farm. Found in the remains of Neolithic villages. It has since become widespread in temperate climates, including California.
The Ficus genus includes 850 species, including Carica species, with edible products. This species has three types of figs.
Popular among home gardeners, the common flowering fig has two organic plants (called parthenocarps) each year. The most common examples of figs in my garden are Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Conadria and others, most of which grow well in California.
Another species, the Smyrna fig, needs pollen to ripen its fruit. The fig wasp that grows on the inedible Caperig fruit transfers it from the Caperig to the Smyrna fig, allowing the fruit to ripen. Kalymyrna (California's version of Smyrna) is of excellent quality and sweet flavor and is sold primarily as a dried fruit. Commercial fig cultivation in California peaked in the 1930s and declined to current levels in the early 2000s.
© Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Sentinel This year's bumper crop brought plenty of ripe figs to me and my gardens (and the birds). (Tom Carwin)The third type is the white San Pedro fig, where the plant does not bloom and needs to be pollinated. Examples are Lampera, King and San Pedro.
As shown above, the common fig produces two plants per year. Spring plants or "breba" grow on last year's shoots and bloom in spring. After that, the main crop is grown in late summer or fall, using that year's growth. In some species, the main culture is more productive and of higher quality than the brava; However, Mission Black is one of the varieties that produces good fruit in both crops.
The edible part of a fig tree may be called a fruit, but it is actually a double fruit called a syconium. It is a cluster of several small eyes in an almost completely inverted bowl. Fresh figs do not keep well and are best eaten within a few days of harvest, or preserved by drying or making cakes. Although you can find fresh figs at the grocery store for a short time, home gardeners can grow and harvest figs in their garden as they ripen.
Rooted fig varieties are propagated by cuttings that are easy to grow and produce clones that look and feel the same as the parent. Many varieties of figs are grown. Many of these cultivars are propagated in small numbers by gardeners and home collectors.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel This is a specimen of Ficus carica 'King of the Desert' cut from a friend. (Tom Carwin)There are different varieties and flavors of figs because when figs are grown from seed (rather than cut), they reflect the genetic differences of the parents and may not resemble their parents. (Apples grown from seed also vary greatly.)
Some varieties grown from seed can be attractive, while others are healthy, vigorous, with highly fragrant fruit and other desirable characteristics. As mentioned earlier, "This propagation of seeds has created a genetic melting pot capable of creating new varieties with unique flavors and characteristics."
The unique taste of this variety makes it attractive to grow. According to some fig lovers, there are five categories of fig flavor. They are described as follows at www.ourfigs.com/articles.
"These are honey, sugar, Adriatic, Bordeaux and blackberries. Honey and sweet sugar (honey or sweet dessert) without the taste of berries, but they can have a complex taste of their own. Adriatic, Bordeaux and dark berries tend to be sweet with a berry flavor and can be more complex.
Wild figs attract hunters, collectors and thinkers at fan meetings and online businesses. Are you looking for natural hybrids of exceptional quality for your production or commercial breeding?
Fig options for home gardeners continue to expand in their ongoing search.
Improve your gardening knowledge.
Fig hunters, David Burke and his family, were recently featured in Smithsonian magazine (search online for "California's wild image hunt heats up").
If you want to plant one or more of your chosen Ficus carica species, there are many options available online as cuttings or seedlings, including one from David Burke. Visit figbid.com/ to start your own fig growing project.
The Cactus and Succulents Society of America will present their incredible results in a webinar on Saturday (tomorrow!) at 10:00 a.m. at the Orange Coast College Planetarium.
A large-scale garden requires planning, special equipment and skilled workers. Many government agencies are making existing gardens drought tolerant and resilient. Host Joe Stead reports on the demolition of an existing park in the process of relocating and creating a new park.
Stead is the senior horticulture lab coordinator and assistant professor of horticulture at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. He has been with OCC since 1994. His interest and expertise is in plant propagation and breeding. He is a co-author of articles published in the CSSA journal and has spoken at CSSA meetings. His lush garden designs have been featured in Sunrise magazine.
While many CSSA webinars focus on plants of a particular genus or geographic area, this webinar describes a large-scale transition from established community gardens to new landscapes that consider the effects of climate change. More and more private gardeners are preparing similar transformations on a much smaller scale. This webinar has given you ideas to implement in your garden.
To register for this free event, visit cactusandsucculentsociety.org/
Enjoy your garden!
Tom Carwin is a past president of the Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and the Monterey Bay Iris Society, a life member of the Monterey Bay Cactus and Succulent Society, and UCLA's Chief Gardener for Life (certified 1999–2009). He is currently a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Association and an active member of the Pacific Horticultural Society. https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-566511763375123/ for daily garden photos. For gardening education information and an archive of previous gardening columns, visit http://ongardening.com.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz. Sentinel King of the Desert yields a good crop of bananas after the Black Mission. (Tom Carwin)
