Hermann Park turned 100 in 2014, and McGovern Centennial Gardens was its birthday present to the city: eight years of work and $31 million, opened in December 2014 on the site of the old Houston Garden Center. The 15 acres are free and laid out as a series of rooms. The Garden Mount, a 30-foot green hill you can walk to the top of, anchors the view. Around it are a Rose Garden planted with tough Earth-Kind antique roses, an Arid Garden, a Woodland Garden, a Family Garden and a Celebration Garden, with 650 azaleas, 490 trees of more than 50 species and 55,000 bulbs across the grounds. The Hawkins Sculpture Walk lines up busts and statues of Simon Bolivar, Benito Juarez, Jose Marti, Confucius, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The sculpture Dawn (1971) came over from the old Garden Center, a small link to what stood here before.
What to expect
- Free Lot C sits right beside the gardens on Hermann Drive.
- Restrooms are on the side of the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion.
- A gently graded ramp spirals up the Mount, so strollers can reach the top.
- Walk bikes through; no scooters, skates, sports or exercise groups.
- Dogs are welcome on a 6-foot leash; keep them out of beds and fountains.
What to do
- Walk up the 30-foot Garden Mount for the view over the gardens
- Stroll the Hawkins Sculpture Walk past Gandhi, Confucius and Martin Luther King Jr.
- Find the Earth-Kind antique roses in the Rose Garden
- 15 acresSize
- December 2014Opened
- 30 feet tallGarden Mount
- $31 millionCost