Houston botanic garden: a concise orientation before we get practical.
Houston botanic garden: Quick notes
November 30, 2025
Last month on my book tour through Houston, my scheduled talk at Houston Botanic Garden was cancelled due to the threat of thunderstorms (which of course didn’t materialize — psych!). The following morning, eager to see the gardens, I popped over to explore on my way out of town.
The Space Age architecture of the arcade just inside the entrance always catches my eye.
Under its arching roof, a long bench is backed by a wall greened up with plants cascading from niches.
A coralstone fountain colonized by ferns anchors one end of the arcade.
A feathery cycad presides over a mass of ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena.
‘Little Volcano’ bush clover was a cresting wave of magenta flowers.
Bananas show off tattered, pennant-like leaves.
Native strawberry bush (I think), covered in red fruits
They really do resemble strawberries.
I always admire the seating options at Houston Botanic — not just benches but intimately arranged chairs, perfect for a garden tête-à-tête.
Gigantic hanging ferns add tropical flavor.
In a sunnier spot, pomegranate fruits were ripening…
…and potted aloes were soaking up the rays.
A stone walk bordered with colorful foliage invites you deeper into the garden.
A bamboo tunnel…
…led me to admire culms striped blue and tan.
Houston is so much wetter than Austin, with 50 inches of annual rainfall, that I’m always a little surprised to see yuccas and agaves here — although of course they can be happy with fast-draining, gravelly soil.
Big agaves perch on layers of rock.
Beaked yucca, sotol, prickly pear, and agave backed by fringy pine trees — the “tell” of where we are, in eastern Texas
One more
In a more tropical area, candlestick senna was flowering.
A blue Tree of Life sculpture stands out against a bold-foliage backdrop of banana, canna, and palm.
Another view
A big palm and ‘Portora’ alocasia make a glorious foliage combo.
Great texture
Mottled banana leaf
Palm leaf scrim
A woodland garden of pines and other trees offers shade on a hot day.
A slatted curiosity cabinet holds small items like nuts and fossils for children to handle and explore.
Firebush shelters an elevated small patio in the center of the garden.
A slightly battered monarch was resting on its journey south to Mexico.
In the culinary garden, a vining luffa plant drapes over a tiled water wall.
Its yellow flowers and dangling, cucumber-like gourds are eye-catching.
The flowers are textured like crepe paper.
Stripey gourd and stripey tile
On the other side of the wall, tiled troughs promise a fascinating water display, but it wasn’t running this day.
Nearby, a pin art wall offers visitors a chance to leave their own impression.
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