MANSFIELD — Brad Hamilton wove his way through the rings of folding chairs, grabbing seats and handing them to newly-arrived guests until the meeting room was nearly standing room only.
Hamilton is owner of Zenith Farms in Lexington, where he grows numerous varieties of berries and fruit trees. He’s also the impetus behind the festival and Ohio Fig Growers Facebook group, which boasts almost 1,200 members.
“I think the most fun thing about figs is the ability to propagate additional figs off of a single tree,” Hamilton said. “You can take one tree and create 20 trees.”
More than 60 a”fig”cionados gathered at Gorman Nature Center Saturday for the 2nd Annual Ohio Fig Festival. Most left with a free fig tree starter; some shopped a variety of well-established plants from tables set up around the perimeter of the meeting room.
Hamilton began growing figs about four years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I just started watching a lot of YouTube videos and got into it that way,” he said.
“This is our second annual fig festival here in Mansfield. We also did one up in Chagrin Falls two weeks ago had about 80 people.”
Hamilton said most Ohio growers have Common fig varieties, which don’t require pollination. He described figs as a relatively easy plant to propagate and grow.
“They’re native to garbage soil — rocks, sand, whatever,” Hamilton said. “We baby him around here. But they’re native to really poor soil. You go to California and they’re growing out of sidewalks.”
A hardy plant with sweet, sugary flavor
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, figs are indigenous to an area that spans from asiatic Turkey to northern India. They thrive in Mediterranean countries and are often cultivated in warm climates. Figs were one of the earliest fruit trees to be cultivated. They’re rich in calcium, potassium, phosphorus and iron.
Some hardly varieties can be planted outdoors. In north central Ohio, Hamilton recommended planting figs somewhere where they’ll be near a radiating heat surface, such as a blacktop driveway or the south side of a house.
Other varieties grow best in pots that can be taken into a garage or basement for the winter.
“They’re fantastic as container plants,” Hamilton said. “If you’re willing to do a fig tree in a pot, your variety options go up significantly.”
Fig trees can grow 10 to 30 feet tall, but they can be pruned back each winter.
“Think of it more like a bush,” Hamilton said. “They have a lot more characteristics in common with a blackberry or raspberry bush than they do an apple tree or a pear tree.”
Figs come in hundreds of varieties. However, the taste of a fig can generally be classified as one of three flavor profiles.
Sugar figs taste like brown sugar. Honey figs taste like a mix of brown sugar and honey. Berry figs tend to taste like a batch of strawberry jam, Hamilton said.
Fig fans often take cuttings and trade varieties.
“Figs do not ship well. Really the only way you can get them is to grow them yourself,” Hamilton said.
“Even the ones you can buy in the stores in Ohio, they’re 25 to 50 percent ripe and they don’t ripen off the tree like bananas.”