Q: I was told by a friend that fig trees have no blossoms from which the fruit comes and it is the only fruit of which that is so. Is this true?

A: Figs certainly have flowers, but their method of fruit production is different from any other plant. We all know that “normal” fruits (apple, pear, peach, etc) have flowers in spring. Individual fruit develop in summer from those flowers. A fig produces many pouch-like syconia on its branches, which have hundreds of female flowers inside them. The flowers in common figs like ‘Brown Turkey’ and ‘Celeste’ do not need pollination in order to swell and produce sugary pulp. When you pick a delicious fig in September, split it open to marvel at the tiny red flowers that are part of this unique fruit.