Our Purpose

The purpose of the Heights Garden Club is to nurture an active gardening community in the greater Heights area of Houston, to share the love and knowledge of gardening in the peculiarities of our Gulf Coast climate, and to restore,  improve, and protect our neighborhood's environment through educational programs, demonstration gardens, and by promoting the incorporation of organic practices, native plants and edibles into the urban landscape. And have fun doing it.

Our History

The Heights Garden Club started as a one woman operation by Kay Harnden in 2009. She set the 2nd Saturday agenda and arranged for the local garden and nursery tours. News of the garden club spread by word of mouth and members were notified by Facebook where the next garden tour would be held. But there is only so much one person can do, and so in the spring of 2013 a few of us approached Kay about letting us help get the word out. We now notify by newsletters, website and email blasts. We still are a club without officers or dues, but we do have a steering committee which shares the duties of finding and promoting the gardens that we tour. We also wanted to do some actual gardening projects and approached the Houston Heights Association about renovating the entrance garden on the Heights Boulevard esplanade which they were more than happy for us to do. Not long after, we were invited to officially join the HHA as a sub-committee of the Boulevard Committee. What this did was give us funding to work with and also gave us a place, the Heights Fire Station, to hold special events such as our Plant and Seed Swap and meet and greets. Our most recent addition to the garden club's growth is awarding homeowners with a Yard of the Month recognition. While the club cannot spend the HHA's money outside of the association's boundaries, we are committed to being a garden club for the greater Heights community and beyond: everyone is welcome to attend any of our events and they will always be free. We welcome any suggestions for gardens to tours or garden themed events, and would also welcome anyone who would like to join the steering committee.

HHA 2014 Boulevard Committee Award

The Heights Garden Club is very proud to have been awarded the 2014 Boulevard Committee Award by the Houston Heights Association in recognition of our contributions to the improvement of Heights Boulevard. We hope everyone will enjoy the fruits of our labor as the gardens come to life this spring.

Gardens

Heights Boulevard Entrance Garden - The Heights Garden Club took over the design and maintenance of the entrance garden in 2013. The garden was most recently updated with perennials that can last all year and take the heat.  Volunteers are needed to help maintain the garden.  Work parties are announced on the Heights Garden Club facebook page.

We want to thank Ravenscourt Landscaping for the garden design and change to drip irrigation. We would also like to thank Donna Buchanan for contributing plants and fertilizer. And lastly we want to thank our stalwart volunteers who braved the heat to help with the installation.



Heights Boulevard Rose Garden - The Victorian Rose Garden on the Heights Boulevard esplanade at 20th Street has been looking rather sad of late, but no more! Pedro Mora of Gilbert's Tree and Landscaping have spruced up the rose garden lifting the live oak, pruning the roses and parterre hedges, weeding the beds, and tucking the roses in with a nice blanket of fresh mulch.








Lombard Lamp Bed Renovation - The garden club, with the help of the Reagan High School Ecology Club, transformed the weed ridden bed around the Victorian lamppost on Heights Boulevard and 11th Street into a red, white, and blue themed garden. Many thanks to Heraclio Reyes, Gabby Martinez, Jose Saldana, Andrew Kincaid Valdes, Wendy Perez, Emily Carmona, Amy Serratos, Andrea Garcia, Itzel Castillo, Julio Gomez, Jose Rios, and Sophia Reyes of the Ecology Club for their hard work. The garden club is looking forward to finding more projects that will benefit from their colaboration.

Special Credit

Thank you to Gary Eskelson for building our website.

The background image was made from a photograph at Herself's Houston Garden blog.

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	Join us.	Support us

The Heights Garden Club focuses on the Greater Heights area of Houston, but all are welcome to attend any event.  Regular meetings are scheduled for the 2nd Saturday of the month at 10AM, are FREE, and last about an hour.

Request to be notified of upcoming meetings on our contact page.