Frank DeNardis is in love. At the golden age of 87, the Connecticut native still emanates a contagious enthusiasm for life from every pore of his five-foot, nine-inch frame. Ask this man with a broad smile, animated gestures and an effervescent voice that smacks of inner joy what he’s simply nuts about, and you’ll get a lightening quick response—his wife Mary, 85, and his hobby of 20 years: growing and selling tropical fruit trees.

A visual testimonial to the personal rewards of DeNardis’ hobby are the more than 80 hearty and healthy organically grown tropical fruit trees on his 1.25-acre lot along the Palm River, in North Naples. “I’m in love with everything about fruit trees, especially the eating part,” grins DeNardis, who admittedly becomes a kid in a candy shop every time he visits a wholesale nursery to buy a tree for himself or his clients. “My hobby is my work, so I have a wholesale license,” he explains. “Typically, when I shop for 10 trees I come back with as many as 25.

His trees are always bearing fruit, which is why a trip to DeNardis’ Garden of Eden is guaranteed to result in a slow golf cart ride through the all-natural nursery. Pruned to give visitors ample room to enjoy a more intimate encounter, DeNardis’ grove includes many trees familiar to Southwest Floridians. The treasure trove encompasses 40 varieties of mango trees, 12 varieties of avocado and 4 varieties of star fruit, as well as varieties of papaya, lychee, banana and orange trees.

Other, lesser known produce growing onsite includes jak fruit, a sweet, yellow, fleshy fruit that tastes like pineapple; mamey sapote, a foot-long fruit with orange-tasting flesh, somewhat like a flavorful pumpkin; canistel, a glowing yellow, waxy-skinned fruit with a pulp the consistency of a hard-boiled egg yolk; jaboticaba, a purple fruit with the flavor of a sweet grape; black sapote, whose rich, custard-like flesh has a mild chocolate flavor; and the longan, a fleshy fruit that looks like an eyeball and taste similar to the lychee.

Three cats and a dog help to keep squirrels from raiding the grove. What DeNardis and his wife don’t eat, they give to their friends or send to the Old Naples farmers’ market off Third Street. They also offer the fruits of their labor of love to visitors. “No one walks away from here without fruit,” says DeNardis, whose passion doesn’t end at his property line.

That’s why he regularly attends meetings of three different tropical fruit tree groups in the area and enjoys daytrips, like a recent sojourn to the Homestead Mango Tasting Festival.

DeNardis would love to see more Naples’ residents growing fruit trees in their yards. “There aren’t many places in the world that you can raise tropical fruit trees,” he remarks. “Homegrown, though it may not be as pretty as store bought, is the best not just because it is free of chemicals, but also because it tastes better.”

While Frank is busy pruning, mulching and fertilizing his part of the Garden of Eden, Mary is occupied with her vegetable and flower gardens in the backyard. “I am not allowed in her garden, because I have big feet,” jokes DeNardis. Both these nurturing stewards of the land enjoy good health and take no medication. “We’re going to live to be 100,” they claim, “because we’re active and eat a lot of great fruit.”

For more information or to make an appointment to visit the nursery, located at 108 Viking Way, in Naples, call Frank DeNardis at 239-597-8359.