Where winters with lots of cold weather are experienced, they do stay more like a shrub instead of a tree. Even in winters like the one this year, as Tee said in her above post, if mulched heavily they should at least come back from the roots.
Plant your new fig early in your growing season to give it plenty of time to make a healthy root system before winter arrives. If buying from Lowes check to see what variety they are selling.
It is well worth giving it a try.
