My name is Evan Panagiotopoulos, and I was born and raised in Corinth, Greece. As a teenager, I spent many summers in my maternal grandmother’s village of Avlonari, located on the eastern side of the Aegean island of Euboea. Life there was simple and deeply satisfying.

I spent countless hours riding my uncle’s donkey, Malamo, and his horse, Kitso, both hardworking animals. I helped water my Uncle George’s vegetable fields, and almost every day I climbed enormous fig trees and ate their fruit straight from the branch. In Avlonari, the fig variety Vasilika grows everywhere. No one waters them. No one prunes them. No one fertilizes them. They simply grow, resilient, generous, and dependable.

In 1977, after serving nearly three years in the Greek Navy on a destroyer as a non-commissioned petty officer, I immigrated to the United States on an F-1 student visa.

What I miss most about those summers is the people, village life and the quiet abundance that came with it. For that reason, I felt an inherent need to grow fig trees. Across cultures, fig trees symbolize abundance, resilience, knowledge, and peace. It brings me tremendous joy to place a young fig tree into someone’s hands. A fig tree becomes part of your identity. It is not just horticulture; it is heritage. A fig tree in the yard quietly says, “This is where I came from.”

Figs are rarely eaten alone. They are shared across fences, gifted to neighbors, propagated, and passed along. They are central to many traditional dishes, eaten fresh, turned into jam, baked into pastries, dried for winter, or served alongside bread and cheese. Planting a fig tree ensures that family recipes and food traditions continue in a new land. As a proud Greek immigrant, I have been giving away rooted fig cuttings to local library patrons for the past two years.

Here in the Hudson Valley, in hardiness zone 6b, every fig tree I grow feels like both an experiment and a tribute. Growing figs in New York requires effort. It demands winter protection, pots dragged into sheds, careful storage in cellars, creative insulation, and plenty of tender loving care. But perhaps that is fitting. There is a mutual understanding, a special connection and respect between individuals and their fig trees, both of whom have endured, adapted, and overcome significant hardships.

When those first figs ripen, despite our cold winters and despite the odds, they taste like more than fruit. They taste like home.

Even George Washington understood the symbolism of the fig tree. At Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate, he cultivated fig trees and often quoted the biblical phrase about sitting “under his own vine and fig tree,” drawn from the Book of Micah. To him, it represented peace, liberty, and the dignity of tending one’s own land.

I wanted to carry that same spirit forward. For that reason I created an online persona, The Fig Tree Guy, to spread the word about figs and help others succeed in growing them here in our Hudson Valley. I maintain a website, TheFigTreeGuy.com, and a YouTube channel under the name @thefigtreeguy, where I regularly post about fig-related topics. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

Additionally, I share my knowledge through workshops, library programs, and community events, where I have met countless fig lovers. I have learned something important: everyone has a story about a friend, a grandfather, or a neighbor who once grew figs in their backyard.

And now, we are building a new chapter together.

Recently, the Recreation and Parks Department of the Village of Walden, together with me, The Fig Tree Guy, announced the first bi-annual Fig Tree Learning Exchange. This free event welcomes fig enthusiasts of all experience levels to exchange cuttings (rooted or unrooted), trade potted trees, share advice, and connect with others who understand the quiet obsession that fig growing can become.

For details, visit TheFigTreeGuy.com. The event will take place at the Anita L. Vandermark Community Center, Community Room, located at 97 Sherman Ave., Walden, NY, on May 9, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Who can attend? Everyone is welcome, and remember, this is a free event. The Community Center is located on the grounds of James W. Olley Park, so before or after the event you can also enjoy the nature trail there.

Warning: Growing fig trees is highly addictive. It always begins innocently with one tiny fig tree. Then you start researching varieties. Then you justify “just one more,” and before you know it, you are checking the weather forecast in three different apps and insulating your shed like it’s Fort Knox.
But what a beautiful addiction it is.

A fig tree connects us to memory, culture, community, and hope. And when you finally sit beneath your own fig tree, even here in Zone 6b, you realize something profound:

You have planted more than a tree. You have planted belonging.

Evan Panagiotopoulos lives in Walden, is retired, loves to grow fig trees and brews cherry liquor in the old country way. He can be seen on his YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@thefigtreeguy , or his website, Google “thefigtreeguy.com”.