The top 5 Fig Varieties for Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, & DC

I’m Ross, the "Fig Boss," and I’ve dedicated my life to this amazing fruit since 2014. After years of educating thousands of growers through my website, FigBoss.com, I’ve learned one hard truth: the variety you choose is an important decision! Each variety directly impacts the quantity and quality of your figs; picking the right one is the only way to save yourself time, money, and effort.

Along the I-95 corridor—from the historic gardens of Boston and NYC through Philadelphia, Baltimore, and down to DC—the stakes are even higher. Our region is challenging for fig trees with sub-zero winters, high humidity (averaging 41 inches of annual rain), and a short 155- to 195-day frost-free growing season.

The top 5 Fig Varieties for Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, & DC

Why These Five? (The Selection Logic)

Select varieties that overcome the four major constraints these cities face:

1. Hardiness: Choose varieties that can survive deep freezes (down to 0F) without dying back to the roots and losing years of productive growth.

2. Rain Resistance: Varieties with a closed eye, an elongated shape with a long stem or neck, and skins that shed water prevent your harvest from splitting, fermenting, or souring during the heavy August and September rains common in the Mid-Atlantic & Northeast.

3. Harvest Window: Limit the number of late ripening main crop fig varieties that may only ripen a small portion of their total harvest, and choose varieties that produce a breba crop (early-summer fruit that ripens on last year’s wood) to extend your season by 30-45 days.

4. Flavor: My recommendations are sure to give you the amazing eating experience fig trees can offer. After all, we want the best of both worlds, performance and taste.

I created this guide to save you the time, money, and heartbreak I experienced when I first started. By selecting the right variety for our unique corridor, you can transform your backyard into a Mediterranean oasis. I've even created a helpful PDF to help you "fig-ure" it out. Check it out below!

1. The Adriatic Figs

If you're growing in one of these locations, you'll quickly learn that White Adriatic is at the top of the list. It's one of the best-tasting fig varieties in existence, but it also manages to do this consistently. It's very hardy, bifera, and the fruits are rain-resistant, consistently drying on the tree.

Take it from me, I've trialed hundreds of fig varieties. It's a must-grow. However, it does have two downsides: Limited breba production and late-to-ripen main crop production. However, knowing its limitations, it's wise to surround it with 4 other varieties that complement it well.

2. Can Only Choose 1 Fig Variety?

Green Michurinska is the "Adriatic hack"—it offers that premium strawberry-jam profile but ripens nearly three weeks earlier than the standard White Adriatic, combined with a heavy breba crop. If only given the option to grow a single fig variety, Green Michurinska would be it in these cities.

3. Filling Gaps in the Harvest Window

A successful fig orchard needs to provide fruit from summer through frost:

• The Early Start: Green Michurinska and Moro de Caneva provide a reliable breba crop (fruit on old wood) to kick off the season.

• The Main Crop Bridge: Ronde de Bordeaux acts as the "first responder" for the main crop. Even though it's more prone to splitting (you might only harvest 50% at peak quality), it pumps out so much fruit a week ahead of the others that it's worth the slot.

4. Reliability Under Pressure

I've always said that in humid climates, the "best tasting" fig is the one that's the most ripe, the most consistently. Campaniere (along with Teramo & Black Celeste) is the standard for consistency. It reaches peak ripeness nearly every time and dries on the tree rather than souring or rotting in the humidity.

Why Others Were Excluded

Many of you are probably aware of my favorite varieties for humid climates. That list can be found below:

Performance in a rainstorm is one thing, but rain and split resistance alone aren't enough to earn a variety a spot in my Top 5. Along the I-95 corridor, hardiness is the ultimate deal-breaker. Evaluating a variety’s true grit takes at least 4 to 7 years of multi-winter observation.

Violette de Bordeaux: 

An elite fig, but its hardiness in Zone 7a remains "unproven" in my trials. I won't recommend it for USDA zone 7A or lower until I see it firsthand survive a sub-5°F winter without protection.

Florea, Little Ruby, & Celeste:

While all 3 of these varieties pump out lots of figs just as early, their eating experience is not superior to Ronde de Bordeaux's.

Pastiliere

This is the variety I hope will eventually dethrone Ronde de Bordeaux. It has better flavor and split resistance, but its hardiness is still a question mark.

Black Celeste, Barnissotte, Teramo, Smith, Verdino del Nord (VR/Figoin), and others: 

These varieties are incredible in humid climates with a superior eating experience, but they lack enough multi-year data on their survival in harsh zone 7A winters. Smith likely never will and is more suitable for USDA growing zone 7B.

Vagabond, Hardy Chicago & Val Camonica Green:

While Vagabond has incredible hardiness and breba production, I need to see it prove itself one more year. So far, it's better than Hardy Chicago in every way:

Hardy Chicago is unifera (it only produces one crop of figs), Vagabond is potentially equally as hardy, its figs taste better, are more rain-resistant, and it's a better performer when the growing season cools down.

Val Camonica is in a similar boat to Vagabond. After another year of a strong showing, it may deserve a spot in the top 5. This variety is also bifera, and I believe anyone could make a strong argument: To prioritize hardy breba producers over unifera varieties.

That would kick Campaniere & Ronde de Bordeaux off the list.

Late varieties:

Because I'm limited to 5 varieties, late varieties are not my focus. The Adriatic starts ripening around September 1st, giving it just enough time to finish its entire crop. A variety like the Coll de Damas could be a nice replacement for White Adriatic; however, it starts ripening around Sept 10th. A fair portion of its harvest may not ripen before frost.

The Wider Area of the Northeast & Midwest: NJ, NY, MA, OH, MI, IL, MO, and so on...

This article is tailored to growers who can plant fig trees in the ground and ensure breba production. That would be the case, assuming your local climate is at least on the edge of USDA hardiness zone 6B/7A (that means 0F is your maximum winter low, or winter protection can be annually provided).

However, should you decide to grow fig trees in pots, my recommendations change:

Don't forget to check out the variety directory for so much more information on fig varieties: