Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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You can grow them pretty far north.
A late relative grew them in Connecticut, with weather similar to England. You need to protect the trees a bit against the winter weather, but they survive it.
Fig: encyclopedia article (keep the Quidnunc Qualifier in mind)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig
Fig hisory, varieties, selection, recipes
http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa082800a.htm