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BRAZILIAN GARDEN
FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS...
NAPLES BOTANICAL

GARDEN

by Dave Trecker

n the beginning there was no land, no plants, no money. A breakthrough came in 1998 when Linda White, later
I But there was a vision. to become board chair, cold-called Harvey Kapnick, Jr., an
A group of local plant enthusiasts came up with the idea
acquaintance in the Chicago area, to explore his interest in
of creating a garden, a big one full of tropical plants. Not
site, but kept the door open should a better parcel come along.
a radical idea, but certainly a new one for Naples: A showplace of purchasing land for the Garden. Kapnick turned down the first
plants for the public. It did. In 1999, Collier Enterprises offered the current tract
It all started in 1993, when Dr. Everett Alsbrook and Dr. in the Bayshore section of Naples, and in 2000 Kapnick gave the
Robert Reed questioned why a collection of local palms should vision a home. He donated $5 million to buy the land –170 acres,
be shipped to Fairchild Gardens in Miami. Why not keep them 90 for permanent conservation.
here? A clutch of plant lovers agreed, and an organization was The land was hardly a showplace. Part strip mall, part garbage
formed. “This was a real dirt-under-the-fingernails bunch, people dump, the tract was infested with melaleuca, a rampant invasive
who just loved gardening,” recalls Catherine Ware, a long-time from Australia. “There were homeless people living there that had
board member. to be relocated,” Alsbrook recalls. The site was a mess. More money
A year later, armed with nothing but enthusiasm, the group and a great deal of effort would be needed to convert the swampy
incorporated Naples Botanical Garden. There was a name, but little snarl into a formal garden.
else. Connie Alsbrook remembers the early days. “That was our In 2002, a small section was reclaimed, and a Mosaic Garden
wandering-in-the-wilderness time,” she says. was built as a public demo. It turned out well, and a plan to build

56 Life in Naples | August • September • October 2017