Walk Through the Houston Botanic Garden

See how a new Texas garden welcomes spring

After opening last September, the Houston Botanic Garden was gearing up for its first spring when February’s winter storms swept across Texas, freezing and damaging roughly eighty percent of the flora across the property’s 132 acres. But nature is resilient, and the HBG staff is innovative; they expect much of the garden to bud again this spring—in fact, many plants have already begun to resprout. The themed gardens that make up the property’s swath of former golf course illustrate how plants connect Houston to the rest of the world. “We have cacti, succulents, banana plants, elephant ears, spider lilies, different palms,” says Brent Moon, the garden’s horticulture manager. “You feel like you’re transported to different regions of the world, but these are all plants that do well here.” Nearby, the coastal prairie and stormwater wetlands collections teach about conservation while the culinary garden, which nods to kitchen gardens from the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, and Central America, yields olives, beans, corn, and herbs.

March 31, 2021

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A cabin marks the upland forest section of the Global Collection Garden.

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The Global Collection Garden’s upland forest is filled with deciduous trees native to the lowlands of North and South America.

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Cacti and other succulents thrive in the garden’s arid valley section.

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The tropics section with its palms, elephant ears, and spider lilies, is the central point of the GCG.

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The grassy savanna.

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Louisiana irises bloom along the walkway in the Susan Garver Family Discovery Garden.

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Cypress trees line the boardwalk maze, which borders the Discovery Garden’s lagoon.

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The welcome pavilion sits next to the culinary garden, which showcases various medical and edible plants often used in garden programming.

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A promenade of roses leads to the culinary garden, where bananas, herbs, and edible flowers grow in raised beds.

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During 2021’s severe winter storms, the Houston Botanic Garden suffered plant loss, but many species, including these daylilies near the garden’s Gingko Plaza, are beginning to sprout again.

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Emperor sago is already beginning to grow back after the storms.

Caroline Sanders Clements is the senior editor at Garden & Gun and oversees the magazine’s annual Made in the South Awards. Since joining G&G’s editorial team in 2017, the Athens, Georgia, native has written and edited stories about artists, architects, historians, musicians, tomato farmers, James Beard Award winners, and one mixed martial artist. She lives in North Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Sam, and dog, Bucket.