Give this tree full sun and regular to occasional watering, though we have seen it growing well in unirrigated dry situations here in Santa Barbara. It is cold hardy to short duration temperatures down to 20-25° F and was undamaged in our garden for the short duration low temperature or 18 ° F that we got in the December 1990 freeze.

Handroanthus impetiginosus comes from northern Mexico south to northern Argentina where it is a common tree in Argentina's northeastern region. The genus name comes from a combination of 'Handro', for a 20th century Brazilian botanist Oswaldo Handro and 'anthos' from Latin for flower and its specific epithet comes from the Latin word 'impetigo' that was used for a disease of the skin as it was believed the bark of this tree was used for treatment of this disorder. Besides Lavender Trumpet Tree it also has the common names of Pink Ipe or Pink Lapacho.

In 2007 studies on the genus Tabebuia determined it to be polyphyletic (because as it has stood it includes Crescentia, Spirotecoma, and Ekmanianthe) with the solution being to split some members of the genus, including the two species commonly grown in California, into the new genus Handroanthus. Plants so separated can be distinguished from true Tabebuia based on the fact that they all have minute hairs on the leaves and flowers. Because of this Tabebuia impetiginosa was renamed Handroanthus impetiginosus and Tabebuia chrysotricha became Handroanthus chrysotrichus. Recent study of the Tabebuia group indicates that this plant has long been misnamed.

We have grown this tree since 1983 under various names - in our first listing we sold it as Tabebuia avellanedae and noted it a synonym with Tabebuia epe but by 1986 we changed our listing to Handroanthus impetiginosus and we continued to list it as such until the closing days of our nursery in 2025 but admittedly we now realize this name was incorrect. While there are plants of true Handroanthus impetiginosa in cultivated in California, it has been determined that the tree most commonly cultivated under this name in is in fact Handroanthus heptaphyllus, a smaller growing species that grows in the high forest watershed of the Paraná River, Paraguay River and the Uruguay River and is commonly called the Black Lapacho. An easy method of determining which species is which is that the leaf margins of Handroanthus impetiginosa are smooth, while those of Handroanthus tetraphyllus are toothed. For more information about this see the 2015 article in Palm Arbor by Don Hodel, Matt Ritter James Henrich, Ken Greby, Kathy Musial and Dylan Hannon titled Handroanthus heptaphyllus: The Correct Name for the Pink Trumpet Tree in Southern California. 

The information displayed on this page about Handroanthus impetiginosus is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.