Corpora Family Fig Trees

The blog post below was prepared by enthusiastic fig grower and website reader Pat Corpora of Bethlehem, PA. Pat shares his love of fig trees which was imparted to him by his father Vincenzo who tended his Brown Sicilian fig trees brought to Easton, PA from Sicily by his parents in 1906. Pat has inherited these priceless Italian heirlooms which he now grows along with several other varieties.

Pat has honored his father with an entry in The Italian Garden Project™ Hall of Honor. Learn more about Vincenzo here. Pat has also shared a heart-warming and inspiring story about the Corpora family, their immigration story, and their belief in the power of education. Read this wonderful article here.

Pat Corpora: The backyard of our house in downtown Bethlehem, PA had a five-story south facing brick wall (part of the city's parking garage).  It created the perfect micro-climate for growing figs.  These are three fig trees growing against the wall (above).  Two are a brown Sicilian variety that my grandparents first brought to Easton, PA from Sicily.  The other is a French Verte fig (I hate to admit it, but the French fig is my favorite).

These trees thrived in this micro-climate that I eventually needed an extension ladder by the end of the season to pick figs.  One season I picked over 2,000 figs from these three trees!! 

This was a typical daily harvest.  The brown are Sicilian, the green French.

Around Thanksgiving I would prune and tie the trees.

I'd dig a trench, sever one side of the root and lay the tree into the trench.

I would then cover them with carpeting to keep them warm and heavy plastic to keep them dry. In spring, traditionally around Easter weekend, I'd uncover them and start over.

We sold this house several years ago to a couple who were also avid fig growers, so the trees still survive.  I took cuttings and have both varieties (plus several other varieties) growing in our smaller  yard about three blocks away.  Since the property is small, I've converted to pruning, tying and wrapping (with carpet and plastic) instead of burying.  I now have nine tree in the this yard, but they produce far fewer figs compared to the the original trees.