Lavender, pink and yellow baby trumpet trees sat waiting in the Windstar Garden Room. Year-round resident Don Harmon was instructed to get a pink or lavender tree by his wife. "We have a yellow one," he said.
Trumpet trees are native to Central and South America. The pink and yellow varieties grow primarily in Mexico. Naples' weather is ideal for these trees, and they are easy for even beginning gardeners to cultivate.
The trees tend to flower in late winter and spring, and have full, green leaves the rest of the year. The Naples Botanical Garden has been acquiring seeds and grafting new cultivars of these trees for the last two years, so there were plenty to share.
According to the Garden, a trumpet tree "possesses pharmaceutical properties used to treat certain cancers and other ailments such as arthritis and diabetes." They can survive in sugar sand without irrigation and they are extremely resilient to drought conditions.
The Naples Botanical Garden is located at 4820 Bayshore Drive. For more information call 643-7275.