My superstar this year was a Chicago Hardy from EL. It was a sickly looking 12" stick when it arrived in late winter. Placed in a well fertilized raised bed ( composted horse manure) with a 4+ inch layer of wood chips it grew to in excess of 7 feet with 3 trunks and has produced many tasty fruits. Next year should be spectacular. My other in ground trees, Alma, Celeste, Champagne, yellow Texas ever bearing, and a few other locally propagated heirlooms have done ok but not as well as the Chicago in the raised bed. I fought to keep about 40 other trees of different varieties in pots watered all summer. They dried out so fast. I'm amazed at their resilience though.... Wilting and coming back repeatedly. I've decided to put all my trees into the ground next spring. I'll offer some winter protection but if they can't survive so be it. The in ground trees seem healthier and happier anyway. The fig preserves from the Texas ever bearings I have is very nice. Ants and wasps were pesky this year too on ripening fruit.

Black mission is a reliable tree that makes really good tasting figs here...

Violette de Bordeaux is AMAZING... but dies to the ground every year in my yard... I probably need to dig it up and transplant it to Sister-in-law's yard - which is a full 1.5 zones warmer....

LSU purple is grassy and not sweet in my yard...

Thanks

Update to my 10/12/12 post. Pulled back the winter " protective" hay I had piled up around the in ground Chicago hardy I was so proud of only to find that rodents had completely girdled all 3 trunks like miniature beavers. Very disappointing, lesson learned. Hope it will come back from the roots and fortunately I took numerous cuttings for propagation. About to start digging holes for 30+ trees that spent the winter in the storm shelter. They all look good.

My Best In 2012,During the Worse Summer climate for figs here was:
Stella,Made the largest percentage of ripe figs(about 70 percent),that did not sour during excessive rain,and cold nights.
Atreano
Kathleen Black
Many otherwise excellent tasting cultivar,in past years,were ripening too slow,and therefore soured and were mediocre or inedible,as an example i will name Violette de Bordeaux.
Do not get me wrong,Violette de Bordeaux can be the best tasting fruit in the world,in some years,Ex:2007,2010,but not in 2012.

Danny's Delight, was the best tasting fig for us for 2012.

I have in the past always perferred a very sweet fig, with a figgy flavor.But, Danny's delight completely changed my mind. It had a very sophisticated sweet profile. Tasted a lot like a very good wine with a flavor profile of sweet mulberry juice mixed with sweet pomegranate juice.

Plus, it appears to be a very heavy bearing fig. It produced a lot of ripe figs before the heavy rains started. It started to ripen figs way ahead of Marseilles Black VS

Most of our other figs were ruined by the rains If it was not for having Danny's Delight, we would not have had any figs last year.

Of all the cold hardy figs we grow and sell, I wish we had planted more of Danny's Delight, for our own use.

Now if it just proves to be as cold hardy as Marseilles Black VS,I would be a very happy fig grower.

Bob - Connecticut zone 5b/6a

Bob:You are talking about dark Danny Delite,?,Right.
I had a few fruits on mine but yes,they did get ripe.
In the past I had a green Danny Delite,From Hartmann's Nursery, that died,from frost,and now I received a cutting a few years ago from George M,of Danny Delite and it had a few fruits last Summer but they were Dark (black),
The fruits on dark one were very similar to Malta Black,but ,I need to observe it better to say for sure if they are the same or not.

Yes Herman I'm speaking about the dark Danny's Delight.

The fact that so many collectors received a green Danny's Delight has caused this fig to have a bad reputation. But, the one that we have in ground, is indeed dark.

We have been winter protecting it, now for three years by bending it to the ground, covering it with compost, then insulating it.

I hope to start testing it the 2013/2014 winter, without winter protection.

It is reputed to have been able to handle Michigan zone 5b/6a weather. Because we are also in a zone 5b/6a, we wanted to grow and test it here.

So far it is the best tasting cold hardy fig I have ever tasted. I'm happy to hear that you will be comparing it against Malta Black, to see if they are the same.

This is an impressive fig. Not only for it's great taste, but also, it is a heavy bearing fig, wet soil resistant, and is another early bearing fig, for those of us in very short growing areas.

Now if it can handle as much cold as Marseilles Black VS, it will be truly a great northern fig.

Bob - Connecticut - Zone 5b/6a

Thanks Bob,Then I have the same specimen,and so far is quite hardy.
I left it without frost protection this year and ,is still alive,branches are still soft and supple,so ,I think is cold hardy.
We had 10 F,the lowest this year.

Black Madeira outperformed the rest this year. Lots of big figs with a wonderful taste and still ripening when all but Hardy Chicago and Sals had given up.

Celeste and Hardy Chicago were dependable croppers although Sals EL edges out Hardy Chicago on taste. Violette de Bordeaux was a little off this year, but still the best tasting of its season.

Mary Lane and Alma were disappointing.

2012 was a horrible year for fig production - whether the trees were potted or in the ground, they all behaved the same. Except for one variety that was my saving grace from the first week of August thru October. It was my Aldo's fig. We had ripe figs every 1-2 days from this tree during that time frame.