Houston Arboretum and Nature
Center
Houston,
Texas
March 2008
The
Houston Arboretum
is located in a large city park in the heart of Houston. The park
was easy to find but the entrance to the Arboretum is a bit hidden.
The entire site is set well back from the road, nestled in the
woods.
You enter through a very nice visitor/nature center with a number
of interesting displays about the nature found on the site. A lot
of it is geared to kids but some is in-depth enough to be
informative for adults.
When you walk out the back of the building you are immediately
immersed in the arboretum. Most of the site seems to be a swamp,
with boardwalks running through it for access.
I haven’t spent a lot of time in the deep south so the entire
environment was new and exciting. Walking along the boardwalk,
through the mostly bare trees felt almost like being on a horror
movie set!
Given the watery setting, they’ve done a good job with
identification signs. I felt like at least a few examples of most
species were identified.
They also have excellent interpretive signs, teaching about the
natural history of the site. There are signs about insects, birds,
mammals and reptiles in addition to plants.
Overall I found it a very interesting and educational place.
Individual plants and gardens are nothing special but the overall
feel of the place is like nowhere else I’ve visited. For that
reason alone, I loved it.
The arboretum covers 155 acres. After an hour I felt we had seen
all the plant diversity of the site. However, natural history buffs
could certainly spend a lot more time, looking for birds or insects
or reptiles. As a nature center it has a lot to offer, giving the
opportunity to learn about the natural history of the region in
both structured and unstructured ways. Maybe the most important
thing is that it is preserving a piece of a natural Houston that is
fast disappearing. Affording people the opportunity to see what
Houston was like before development is a priceless treasure.
Click here
for more photos of the Houston
Arboretum.
To visit the official website of the Houston Arboretum,
click here.