Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Houston, TX

Gate, Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens

After having visited Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Houston - or is it in Humble or Spring, Texas - once in mid-July, I've tried to imagine the hardships Thelma and Charles Mercer endured turning 14.5 acres of trees and brush into their garden paradise. Houston is miserably hot and humid that time of year. Who were these people who braved drought, floods, insects and Houston's climate to create such a place?

Like many of us, Thelma Mercer hardly knew one plant from another when they began, but her love of beautiful places and personal vision motivated her to learn. She became an accomplished, amateur horticulturist. Her husband, Charles, a retired communications engineer with the military, shared her vision and, of course, loved to please her.

After retiring, they decided to move to the Rio Grande Valley. Not wanting their former home and gardens to be bulldozed by real estate developers, they sold the property below market value to Harris County provided that the government establish it as a botanical garden and education facility.

Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden is divided by Aldine Westfield Road. The East Side includes botanic gardens and the visitor center while the West Side features walking trails through the arboretum. Cypress Creek forms the northern boundary.

Hopefully the following photographic images will entice you to visit Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

 

Blue Butterfly Clerodendrum (Rotheca myricoides)

Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Koi pond

Nile Lily (Agapanthus africanus)

Rock Garden

Prehistoric Garden

Botanical imprints in pavement

Renaissance Garden

Color Garden

Aloe cooperi

Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a few minutes from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

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The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

We were visiting the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. Behind a man at the front of the line of two - who wouldn't stop yammering to the desk attendant about Gov. Perry's policies, disparaging the South, how she could live a happier life if only she would move to the suburbs of Washington, DC and get a federal government job, thanking her for their - mostly his - conversation - I cleared my throat, stepped up to the desk, paid $3 dollars for a trail map, and asked the lady with the few words I could fit in edge-wise. "Ma’am, if we only have an hour or so to explore, what would you recommend?" She seemed relieved that I’d asked.

She also gave me a free handout, “A Brief History of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center." It's well worth getting a copy. Contact the arboretum.

The attendant said "This is a true nature center." Were truer words ever spoken? She instructed that from the Nature Center, we should follow the Inner Loop clockwise to the North Meadow Trail, follow it to the Outer Loop, go north past the Willow Oak Pond, and turn west on the Willow Oak Trail to return to the Nature Center. Her recommendation was spot-on.

The climate of Houston, TX is very much like south Georgia, my home – sweltering and oppressive in summer. The heat and humidity motivated us to cut our visit short and get out of there as soon as possible. But walking fast generated more sweat. So we moseyed, more or less, as we generally do down South.

Houston Arboretum’s flora is also familiar. Most are native species. Except for some brush clearing, they grow in wild abandon. Perhaps this is what the attendant implied by “a true nature center.” I could say the same about a walk through the woods behind my house.

The Houston Arboretum boasts a few improvements which my woods can’t: a nature center with classrooms and displays, well-marked trails, broad paths, comfortable benches, easy access, and boardwalks over seasonally wet areas. It’s also encompasses more acreage.

Along the way from the Outer Loop to the Willow Oak Pond, I spied what appeared from a distance to be a flowering Crinum americanum, also known American crinum lily, Seven sisters, Swamp lily, Southern swamp lily, String lily. I wanted to get a closer look, but didn’t. It appeared one or two persons had ventured out to do so. I could see their trail, but I wasn’t going. The weeds were high and I was wearing shorts.

Other noted species along the way included Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), American basket-flower (Centaurea americana), Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), Whitemouth dayflower (Commelina erecta), Turk's cap (Malvaviscus arboreus), Pink Texas sage and Red Texas sage (Salvia greggii), Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccafolium), and Blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea).

Meadow, Houston Arboretum

We did not explore all the trails in the Houston Arboretum, but were pleased with the beautiful meadow and Meadow Pond along the trail. They were certainly the highlights of our morning walk.

Meadow Pond with Centaurea americana and Eryngium yuccafolium

The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center presents many seasonal events for adults and children. Children's classes were being held in the visitor center the day we visited. They seemed well-attended. Houston residents should check them out. It's also a great place for walks, nature photography and bird watching.

There is no admission charge, but donations are encouraged. The Houston Arboretum is located at 4501 Woodway Drive.

7206 Tokalon, Dallas, TX

7206 Tokalon is a pleasant address with attractive curb appeal near White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.  The quiet residential street lined with modest homes doesn't seem to hide anything extraordinary.  But the owner-designed landscape is quite remarkable.  The plant list includes nearly 100 different varieties of groundcovers, grasses, perennials, vines, shrubs and trees growing on a little over 1/2 acre lot.  That such a small landscape could include so many plants in a coherent design seems practically impossible.  But the homeowner is David Rolston, a prominent Landscape Architect in Dallas.

I met Dave and toured his garden during the 2009 Dallas Tour of Homes. The clean lines of the house and the street-side landscape, as well-conceived as they are, did not prepare me for the special place created behind the garden wall.

The 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath home was built in 1948 and honored as a Better Homes and Gardens House Of The Year.  After a house fire in 2006, it was remodeled by Architect Jim Manning to make it appear much larger with generous open spaces and an expansive view to the garden.

A small lot usually invites unwanted visual incursion from neighboring properties, but Rolston has created a private glade for family and friends to enjoy.  An imaginative collection trees and shrubs screen the outdoor living area from view without crowding available space for relaxing and entertaining.  At the same time, the screening provides lovely backdrops for an abundance of carefully selected ornamental grasses and perennials.  Even utilitarian corners are appropriately obscured, as with this bamboo screen.

In time-honored tradition, the garden is arranged into free-form rooms with water features, alcoves, and seating areas joined by paths and vistas.  A grassy stairway leads downward to a welcoming entertainment area warmed by a fire pit.

Rolston is very conservation conscious, and his design reflects it.  Not easily seen from the ground, he designed a tiny lawn in the form of a "green roof" sheltering the screened porch, providing a place for relaxation and play.  By minimizing lawn areas and substituting ground covers such as Mondo (Ophiopogon japonicus), he reduced mowing maintenance.  Taking advantage of the slope of the landscape, he created a catch basin at the end of the entertainment area to retrieve run-off and recycle it for irrigation.  The gravel drive and parking area allows rainfall to percolate downward.  He is also careful to use native ornamental plants where appropriate.

Dave is an artist at heart, as his use of beautiful objects, form, color and texture demonstrates.  Each season brings a new delight.  Autumn, for example, is resplendent with fall-blooming perennials, grasses and Japanese maples.

Too often, landscape architects wish to impose their own visions upon their clients' landscapes.  Not so with Rolston's firm.  An affable fellow, Dave makes friends easily.  Consequently, meeting his clients' needs and tastes is his goal.  As he says himself, One of the things I most enjoy is learning about what a person likes and who they are as people…then finding coherent ways to express that in the landscape…

As he wishes for his clients, he wishes for himself.  Clearly, the garden at 7206 Tokalon is an expression of David Rolston's congeniality, hospitality, and love of gardening.

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Lovin' The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden

Garland Road in Dallas, Texas is a busy thoroughfare on the east side of the city. Driving southwest from Garland toward the city center, bustling traffic doesn't allow a driver to take his eyes off the road for long. Frankly, there doesn't seem to be any reason to look around. Much of the area looks worn. But a long brick wall conceals one of the loveliest spots in the city: The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

In the early 1930s, Everette DeGolyer (1886-1956), a geologist who contributed significantly to the development of the oil industry, chaired a committee to find a site for an arboretum. Perhaps while he was engaged in this endeavor, he found a tract of land overlooking Dallas's White Rock Lake.

White Rock Lake was originally established as a water reservoir to serve the needs of Dallas following a severe drought around 1909. The dairy farm was flooded. The lake was completed by 1912 and immediately became popular as a recreation area. White Rock Lake Park was established in 1929. Wealthy citizens began to purchase property overlooking the scenic landscape. Everett and his wife, Nell Goodrich DeGolyer (1887-1972), purchased the property he found on the eastern shore, not for an arboretum but for a home site.

The DeGolyer home was built in 1939 in the Latin Colonial Revival style, but designed to look like it was a century older. It was a most impressive house with twenty-one thousand square feet and served by central air-conditioning and heating. They called it "Rancho Encinal" because of the many encinas (live oaks) on the grounds.

Over fifty years after DeGolyer's committee began its search, the arboretum became a reality, ironically, at "Rancho Encinal." After purchasing the estate from Southern Methodist University, the City of Dallas began work to create their long-awaited garden. A property neighboring the DeGolyer's home was bought. The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens opened to the public in 1984. The DeGolyer's home has been recently renovated to appear as it did in the 1940s, and is open for tours on weekends or during special events.

Some folks associate arboreta and botanical gardens with universities, boring sites set aside for research, visited occasionally by professors and students. But the Dallas Arboretum is not that. It's a delightful place for families, full of pleasure, art, music, glorious garden displays and the fun of learning. There is something always going on. This time of year, the Arboretum hosts The Great Pumpkin Festival. This year's festival began 18 September.

On the day we visited, hundreds of people were strolling along the paths, enjoying performances, enjoying the lawns, reading, photographing friends and family, and gazing across the vista at the Dallas skyline. It seemed that around every corner a wedding was beginning or in progress. Brides were posing everywhere in cowboy boots.  Some folks lingered quietly by water gardens colored by koi. Everywhere the laughter of children could be heard. I was impressed by the wonderful architectural features, sculptures, masses of mums and perennials, elegant walks, quiet pathways and fall landscapes. What a wonderful day it was.

Of course, research takes place, too. Plants of all sorts can be seen on display in trial gardens. Examples of xeriscaping taught visitors how to maintain a beautiful landscape with less water.  Xeriscaping is a concept which time has come.  But the sheer exhuberance of color and scenery demonstrates that learning can be fun and that gardening is delightful. No doubt, many who visited that day returned home inspired to start planning, planting and getting their hands dirty for the sake of beauty.

To experience this season's Great Pumpkin Festival, be sure to visit before mid-November. You can click on links above to enjoy photographs made during my visit. You'll be lovin' the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

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