Negronne Fig

Negronne has real documented history in the south of France, where Fig Database records it as having been grown by Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, the royal gardener who designed and managed the kitchen gardens of the Palace of Versailles under King Louis XIV — a genuinely notable historical pedigree. That said, its precise modern identity carries a real, unresolved ambiguity: a nearly identical variety grown at Aix-en-Provence is also documented, and Fig Database states plainly that whether the fig sold under the Negronne name in the Pacific Northwest today is the true Negronne or is actually Violette de Bordeaux "is unsettled," though the fruit of the two is very similar either way. Some sources also connect the name to a Bordeaux-region town. The fruit is small, nearly black skin with intensely rich red flesh, and the tree is well suited to cooler climates with short growing seasons — a Vienna, Austria-based grower documented for Fig Database reported a heavy main crop (around 300 figs from one tree in a single season) with fruit that resists bad weather and humid conditions well, though ripening slows considerably as autumn days shorten.