The Fig Tree That Built a Community: A Story of Care, Culture, and Connection

Written By Steven Biggs - Fig Expert

Overwintering a Fig Tree

In this episode, I chat with Helena Moncrieff, author of The Fruitful City, to explore a moving story from Toronto—one that begins with a fig tree and grows into something much bigger.

Helena shares the story of Francesco, a gardener whose towering backyard fig tree became the heart of an annual tradition. Each fall, neighbours, friends, and even strangers would gather to help perform the ritual of tipping the tree over to protect it through the winter. Or, later, as it got bigger, to help him wrap it. Lots of heavy work, but a shared act of growing food and cultural heritage.

What started as a cold-climate fig-growing necessity blossomed into a powerful symbol of community.

If the idea of tipping fig trees for the winter interests you, here’s an article that explains how to do it.

Steven Biggs - Fig Expert

Recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the "green gang" of Canadians making a difference in horticulture, Steven Biggs is a University of Guelph-trained horticulturist, former college instructor, and award-winning broadcaster and author.

He has been teaching gardeners how to grow figs in cold climates since 2011. But his interest in figs took off much earlier, in 1993, while working at a nursery with the UK National Collection of figs.

He’s the author of the first book about growing figs in cold climates, the award-winning Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t. His articles about growing figs have appeared in Fine Gardening, Garden Making, and Edible Toronto.

When not in the garden, you might catch him interviewing fig experts for his Fig Culture podcast.

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Dried but Not Done: The Magic of Fig Mostarda