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AFTER CLEARING THE MELALEUCA
ASIAN GARDEN

BEFORE CLEARING THE MELALEUCA

Naples Botanical Garden began to take shape.
Chad Washburn, Deputy Director, recalls the early days.
He says it took three years to clear the melaleuca and create an
open marsh. Volunteers came to help. Washburn remembers a
“community day” when 110 people showed up to rescue native
grasses, ferns and bromeliads and tag royal poincianas and ficus,
many of which were later incorporated into the Garden.
To move things along, the staff had to improvise. Washburn
tells of uprooting, moving and replanting a huge strangler fig,
now a centerpiece of the Children’s Garden. “It was quite a
sight, seeing it wobble through the underbrush towering over
everything else.” Washburn says, “We learned how to do it. Not
every garden has the know-how to move big tropical trees.”
Early visitors were not bashful about speaking their minds.
“We came to understand what people liked,” Washburn said.
“For example, a native screw pine stopped traffic. People
were just fascinated by it.” That helped influence the makeup
of Irma’s Garden, now filled with off-beat plants that get
peoples’ attention.
A master plan took shape in 2005, when Executive Director
Brian Holley assembled a “dream team” of tropical landscape
architects, each to design a part of the new garden: Raymond
Jungles, Bob Truskowski, Ted Flato, Made Wijaya, Ellin Goetz.
Alsbrook says, “We tried to get the best people, and we did.”

Life in Naples | August • September • October 2017 57