Liz Christy Garden

This spot often adds a tad bit of unexpected green to a walk across Houston. «The Liz Christy Community Garden earns the distinction of being the first of its kind in the city, having been founded first by gardening activist Liz Christy in 1973, and officially approved for rental by the Office of Housing Preservation and Development the following year. In the decades since, neighbors have transformed this former vacant lot into a vibrant green space, boasting everything from a birch tree grove to vegetable gardens, wildflowers, and a pond. Potential gardeners can volunteer their time to earn a garden key.»

Oh, this is so hard. I came here because I wanted a quiet/​natural place to think for a stretch of time. In terms of visual beauty, atmosphere, and privacy, this tiny garden is just lovely. I don’t know how often it gets tended to, but the plants now are getting unruly in the best possible way — overgrown, lush, spilling out onto the walkways; you feel like you’re actually in a secret little garden despite the audible backdrop of traffic. There are quite a number of benches and chairs scattered throughout, and since they’re tucked away off the paths, it’s fun poking around in the greenery to look for them! There’s even an adorable miniature fish pond.
If that’d been all, I would have swooned and sat blissfully for an hour. BUT. THERE WERE SO MANY FLIES. Large flies! Small flies! Flies that have absolutely no qualms about landing all over you and checking you out! Flies of every kind! They were everywhere! I actually would have still been ok if it were just the flies. I sat down on a bench, ready to relax for a good half hour and soak in the green — and then noticed alllll the fire ants scurrying about my feet. As ridiculous as it sounds, there were so many of them I actually did not feel safe leaving my sandal-​clad feet on the ground. So I thought I’d prop them up on the wooden table or sit cross-​legged on the bench — until I noticed there were ants all over those too. Finally I decided I’d just keep walking leisurely around the garden to minimize any insectoid contact but alas, another Very Large Bug immediately landed on me. I brushed it off, but clearly I was not going to get any good thinking done here, so I regretfully left. I’m not sure I have any reason to come back… I could come in the winter to avoid all the flies, but as beautiful and charming as I found the garden, that’s all due to how lush and wild and green it is, which sadly will not be the case in the winter. Ah well. I’ll be off finding other lovely gardens.

I bumped into this beautiful garden on a venture actually just to look for a bench to eat my cupcake and incidentally saw the gate open. What I saw was a gorgeous layout of wonderfully planted tulips, cherry blossom trees, and floral delights. WHAT A CUTE place to just breathe in nature’s beauty amidst all the hustle and bustle of NYC? It is a nice ~5 minute stroll. You will see mini ponds with fishies, brick pavement. How ROMANTICAL!
If you are nearby the area, I def. recommend you stop by. Thank you to all the volunteers who worked hard to make this garden such a beaut!

Thanks Susan S for the review and the history of this place! I’m happy someone Unilocaled this place so I didn’t have to. This is a wonderful/​calm/​clean/​non-​druggie oasis in the traffic and pedestrian hell of Houston street. I always love grabbing a coffee at Bluebird (where you have to wait for someone’s laptop to die before getting a seat) and heading down here to relax and contemplate exciting NYC life and/​or failed romances. Definitely one of the most pretty and flowery of all NYC public spaces. Come on Central Park, where are the flowers?!