Bountiful Figs

'Sweet Diana (unknown)' (fig fruit are 'Celeste like')

The 'Sweet Diana' in ground parent tree belongs to 'Danny's neighbor', who lives across the street from him, this tree has survived the 'polar vortex of 2013/2014' in 'Staten Island' with some die back, yet it rebounded well. It did so with no winter protection. It was brought to 'Staten Island' from 'Italy' (he doesn't know the region) sometime before 1976, it had grown to be two stories high, and just as wide, yet it has been greatly pruned down to a more manageable size. It is a local 'heirloom favorite' that was named after 'Danny's significant other', who he says "puts up with his enthusiasm for figs", apparently she loves the cultivar, and they share the delicious sweet figs that their clone of it produces.

This cultivar produces 2 crops of dusty looking tan, green and purple figs, the skin color ranging from light to dark, in some climates the peel of this fig may look golden green. It's soft thin skinned figs range from small to medium. It's soft thin skinned figs are smaller than the fruit of the 'Celeste' cultivar, at up to about 10 grams each fig, which is 66% of the size of a 'Celeste' fig. Sweet Diana (unknown)'s fruit is said to be about 5 times smaller than the fruit of 'Hardy Chicago'. The fruit of this cultivar can ripen in cool weather, as cold as 50 degree Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).

When the fruit is ready it droops and the skin becomes very soft. The figs of this cultivar have been compared to 'dates', the figs have a light 'figgy' taste, with a moderately juicy pleasing texture. The figs are 'very very sweet', it's said to be 3 times sweeter than the figs of the 'Hardy Chicago' cultivar. The figs of this cultivar may have a 'berry flavor' ranging from 'mild and simple' to 'strong and very complex'. The flavor of the figs can taste like 'pure strawberries', some figs may have a flavor of blended 'Concord Grape and Caramel', some other figs from this cultivar may taste like ' banana with pineapple'. The flesh is strawberry red in color, yet that strawberry red can be in only a small portion of the flesh in some climates. The figs have a small cavity, the figs have little to no seed crunch, and are easy to bite into. The figs have a tight eye. It's figs are split and rain resistant, it's figs can be allowed to dry on the tree without fear of souring.

'Sweet Diana' starts to fruit early in to the season, it can fruit weeks sooner than 'Hardy Chicago, on the 'west coast' it's main crop figs typically start to ripen in late July. In zone 7a 'Staten Island, NYC', generally the 'main crop' ripens during the last week of August to the first week of September, then right through to the end of the season, there the 'first crop of the year' can be as early as July 5th. This cultivar of fig requires 'no pollination'. One great thing about this fig cultivar is it's ability to produce a breba crop when the climate is too cold for a lot of other fig cultivars to produce a breba crop, yet if that first crop of the year is destroyed then chances are that you could count on there being a crop on the new growth of the year (commonly refereed to as the second crop of the year, or the main crop). When it comes to the main crop this cultivar appears to be a fig dropper in some climates, yet as it ages it could outgrow that problem, or at least produce so much that the dropped figs don't matter.

It's a good fig for jams, for fig fillings and for other baked/cooked goodies.

It's crop size ranges from average, to high production.

This cultivar is tolerant of wet conditions, and is insect tolerant.

This cultivar resembles the 'Celeste' cultivar in many ways, yet the leaf pattern is noticeably different from 'Celeste', the figs can be noticeably better than 'Celeste' in the right climate, and in the right growing conditions.

Sweet Diana is very vigorous, rust resistant, and grows like a weed. It's an excellent cultivar for growing in pots, yet like any other fig tree it may do better 'in the ground'.

It's cuttings are easy to root, one of the easiest cultivars to root.

This cultivar makes a great root stock.

'Danny' has property in upstate Oneonta, NY in Z5b, he has his own 'Sweet Diana' trees there. They planted a 'Hardy Chicago', a 'Florea', and his 'Sweet Diana' in the ground there, all of which were 2 years old and healthy. In 'Winter 2015/2016' none of those trees had any protection, they were not even protected from the northern winds. The 'Hardy Chicago' and the 'Florea' perished. The 'Sweet Diana' died to the ground, yet it grew back healthy, and it grew to a little over 2 feet tall the next season. That happening after being exposed to about -30F, as well as exposed to colder than 0F for days straight. Before then on the same property and in the same climate he winter protected one of his 'Sweet Diana' trees, that protected in ground tree was hit by the 'polar vortex of 2013/2014', the protected tree had lost a tip here and there, but otherwise it had no die back. This cultivar makes 'Hardy Chicago' and makes 'Florea' seem 'cold sensitive' in comparison.