Jennifer Reed is the Editorial Director of Naples Botanical Garden and a longtime Southwest Florida journalist.Gumbo limbo trees are big, very fast growing, and interestingly shaped natives of southern Florida. The Caribbean Garden overall contains numerous fruit trees, including banana, papaya, mango, guava, as well as sugar cane, spice trees, and cacao.Ĭlick here for information on visiting the Garden, including our current safety precautions. This demonstration area will showcase several warm-weather crops over the summer, such as okra and eggplant. The trees used for this project were taken from elsewhere in the Garden because they were failing to thrive in their original locations.Īgriculture is an important theme for the Kapnick Caribbean Garden. “You don’t just go order a fence post,” he says. Horticulture Manager Elizabeth Beans and Stephen Jurek prepare the ground for the gumbo limbo fence posts. Vice President of Horticulture Brian Galligan says he’s always been “intrigued” by how residents of Caribbean countries use natural materials. “and to get people to see how you utilize everything on your land.” It makes you feel like you’re in the Caribbean,” Beans says. The Garden has close ties to the Caribbean, where we collaborate with several other botanical gardens to conserve subtropical plants and share research. A smaller model once stood here, but with Luis now on staff to oversee the process, this one is larger and more authentic, Beans and Jurek say.

The Horticulture Department has long wanted to build a living fence in the Caribbean Garden. Horticulture Manager Elizabeth Beans and Horticulture Maintenance Manager Stephen Jurek prepare the ground for the gumbo limbo fence posts.Guests can see the display by taking the Lake Trail loop, accessible from the Caribbean Garden. The Horticulture Team will prune them periodically to maintain their shape. They also photosynthesize through their bark, allowing them to produce energy to aid in root production and longevity even without leaves. The tropical tree sprouts roots from its cuttings, turning these woody segments into living trees. Gumbo limbos have interesting qualities that make them good fence material. Throughout the Caribbean, dense walls of cacti are frequently used, which may be ideal for rural homeowners and ranchers but not for our kid-friendly Garden or for viewing an agricultural display. In Honduras, they are commonly used to pen cattle and to mark residential property boundaries. The fences are “everywhere” in the Caribbean, Luis says. Luis cuts the gumbo limbo into roughly 6-foot sections (later pruned to 4 feet), and the trio places them as fence posts along a rectangular perimeter. Living fences are common throughout the Caribbean, including Luis’ native Honduras, which is why Elizabeth and Stephen have asked him to take charge this sultry morning. Luis, Stephen, and Horticulture Manager Elizabeth Beans are along a lakeside trail at the edge of the Kapnick Caribbean Garden building the Garden’s latest display - an agricultural demonstration area bordered by a “living fence.” That structure is exactly what its name conveys, a fence made up of live plants, in this case, gumbo limbos. Horticulture Special Projects Assistant Luis Duron places a segment of a gumbo limbo tree into position, where it’ll sprout roots and become a living fence post. Luis Duron, the Horticulture Special Projects Assistant, eyeballs a thick segment of a gumbo limbo tree that Horticulture Maintenance Manager Stephen Jurek maneuvers into place.

Gumbo limbo tree daves garden