Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens

Wow, Houston. Way to go, keeping these gems on the down low. I love discovering new reasons to love my hometown.
Mercer Arboretum is tucked away in a part of town I’d probably rarely travel to. You would never know it just looking off the highway, but this place is humongous! I was invited by a photography client to take her portraits there, and I was glad to have discovered this place.
The Botanical Gardens (on the east side) are beautiful. Flowers were blooming in the middle of January. There are fountains, benches to sit on, and beautiful trees. Everything is labeled meticulously. It wasn’t crowded, so it was easy to finish the portrait shoots with zero interruptions, which is rare! It’s probably a different experience during high season and warmer weather, but even during winter the landscape was lovely.
Great place for a walk, some meditation, and exploring. Houston can always use more nature settings!

I am writing this review from a Photographer’s Point of View. If you are looking for a great, airy, creative space to use for photos I suggest you avoid this place. It basically is one of those spots that every photographer knows about and when you get there you will be shooting with about 10 other photographers competing for prime location. It was honestly annoying and when you end up having pics with the same location as everyone else creativity is dead.
I found this place on Unilocal and my client was dying to shoot here. I usually don’t come to places like this because it limits what you can do because you are constantly shooting around people, signs, golf carts and tons of traffic. Also there’s the added element of feeling rushed. Also if clients need to change they have to do it in their car. Its not allowed in the restrooms and be careful about where you step. Some parts are strictly off limits to walk in.
Now if I were coming here to visit and explore it would be a completely different review. It was nice and the grounds are nicely maintained. But there are still a good amount of people and during peak times parking will be limited.
So if you are looking to do a photo shoot here and want scenery everyone uses in their pics go ahead. If you want something new and refreshing I suggest you scout out some other places.

This place is very peaceful and a nice place to get away from the world. I enjoy taking walks here and bringing people from out of town especially since it’s free. Also a great place to take pictures! You always run into professional and amateur photo shoots. Great place!

We had a very disappointing experience here. This is a beautiful park that we’ve enjoyed for the last 25 years. It is run by a grumpy old man. Read other reviews on FaceBook.
7÷31÷15 I hired a photographer to take my daughter’s senior pictures here. A picture was being shot 6 inches off the path into the dirt. Not flowers, or other plants, but dirt. An man in a golf cart stopped and chewed my photographer out for getting off the path. She immediately apologized and moved, but he continued to belittle my photographer in front of my daughter for several minutes. He was extremely rude & unprofessional. It was so bad I really wanted to say something but honestly we just wanted him to move along. He took what was a special day for us & really spoiled the mood. I don’t recommend planning anything special here.

I’ve been to the gardens twice and those two times I’ve visited have always been awesome.
I love exploring the gardens to find and learn about the various types of plants.
I took my girlfriend out on a date to explore and take pictures of us, the plants, and the scenery.
So guys or girls, if you’re looking for a date that requires no money (with the exception of gas) or want to take pictures or if you’re into plants, please by all means, visit Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. You will have fun and will not be disappointed.
It’s free!

It’s free! Beautiful place to take pictures! Most of the time the flowers are amazingly beautiful. I love taking pictures of my daughter here! It’s colorful and quiet…

This place is awesome to visit especially if you are taking pictures for graduation, wedding or quinceanera. The Botanical Gardens is great information for your school age children to learn and explore different types of plants and flowers. We took it as an informative field trip. The weather was hot and muggy but that was solved when we decided to bring our own snocones. It made it more fun to enjoy!

Great place to do pictures. The gardens are beautiful. Just be sure to wear bug spray. The mosquitos will drain you dry. We took my wedding pictures here they came out fabulous. In the summer months they are open to dusk

A great place to walk and relax! Took my dog and my neighbors dog to walk around here & it was really great! I must say, the only thing that was needed if you brought your dog (s) are more garbage can, but apart from that, it’s a great place. I would recommend if you were taking any sort of professional photographs, this is the best place to go! I highly recommend it, even for a wedding!

I love this place!!!

Beautiful place to walk around and an even more beautiful place to do photoshoots.

I’ll keep this simple and short. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous!
I’ve literally been lost in here for hours. It’s a little piece of serenity in the middle of one of the largest cities in the U.S. It is extremely well maintained, groomed, and also provides a learning experience with the name plates of the different flowers and plants.
When I lived in Houston, we would venture out here as often as time would allow. We got our exercise in by walking around, but also got the opportunity to bask in the nature around us.

Beautiful place to visit and explore. The botanical garden is pretty, and you can also walk the trails at the arboretum. A great place to spend the afternoon, and it is also kid friendly.

Very beautiful and quiet. Good for date, exercise or just to relax!
Love the views of the flowers, trees, ponds with turtles!

Really cute place to walk around and see the beautiful landscape and flowers. Be sure to come early because there won’t be any parking, and parking on the far side of the library to walk in the Texas heat without shade is not fun. I thought it would be nice to have a picnic here, but there is a no food policy which may be for the better to keep the garden clean. There are always photo shoots happening here in the mornings, so your almost bound to see wedding dresses and girls in their 15^th birthday party dresses, which is kind of fun. I love the labels on the plants, so if you especially like one, you know what plant to buy later for your own garden. The gift shop is
quint and adorable. Best part about the garden is that it’s free.

Our destination last weekend was the kids park which is on the other side of Aldine Westfield from the Botanical gardens. The kids park is very well made and has the playground equipment sectioned off based on the ages of your children. (Little kids section for 1 – 5 and more challenging equipment for the older crowd. My kids have a lot of fun here.
This part of the park allows pets, so when we want to took pooch along for the fun, we pick this park. There are lots of picnic tables and seating for parents and it’s big enough you can play a (little) kids game of baseball.
The trails and loops at Mercer are great for little legs and are set up in a way where you can choose the 10 minute loop, or keep going and take the 30 minutes loop. I know you can go further too, but we don’t usually make it much further. A great place for some outdoor fun!

The husband and I walked through here for about half an hour on a very hot, humid day. We were killing some time before having to go somewhere. It was easy to find, and very well set up. It’s no Chicago Botanical Garden, but very nice all the same. This would be a nice place for pictures with the family or just to relax on a bench with a book.
I’d love to come here with more time and cooler weather.

Ok. didn’t come at the best time for blooms, but I really liked the layout and next time I want to wear shoes meant for walking on the trails, flip flops are not it.
Cool layout and great place to take professional photos with that special someone or family!

I have been to this location numerous times. Most recently this past weekend in between thunder storms. It is nice and relaxing to get out and stroll around the trails and look at all the flora and fauna they have on display.
The area is usually never really crowded. You will pass a few couples and families while you are walking around but you pretty much feel like you are out there on your own. There is an office where you can go in and pick up a map which you may need since this location is large.
They were doing some construction while we were there, so a couple of areas were roped off. Most of the areas were still open though. My daughter likes looking at all the different flowers and seeing the koi in the small pond they have in front. There are also fountains scattered throughout to give you that relaxing sound of running water.
The only downside to this place it is quite humid there and you rarely get a breeze. It is surrounded by thick vegetation and there is rarely any wind blowing. This makes for quite a hot trek this time of year. We went early and coupled with it already being 85 degrees, and no air, I was sweating pretty quickly. We still had a good time though and I will be back to visit soon.

I loved Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. I have only been to the west side of the park since my (cutie pie) puppy wanted to come with (yea, he told me!) and that’s the only side dogs are allowed. The left side is the Botanic gardens and dogs can only go in for pet portraits, which have to be scheduled several weeks before. We walked the grounds and indeed it is very well cared for and beautiful! I am a sucker for Nature! There were beautiful trees everywhere and the amazing sounds of nature. Seriously, that place is probably AMAZING during the fall! Can’t wait to take pictures.
We went around Hickory Hog Loop, which is only about ½ mile and walked around the playground and other trails. I was hesitant to go too far or too deep because there was an 80% probability of rain. and you know what that means! (if you don’t, you must not live in Houston). The place is great for a jog since it has many dirt trails and dogs seem to enjoy the trails too.
I absolutely loved it there and will make it my jogging/​walking out spot Saturday mornings. The only down side to this park is that it is only open from 8am-​5pm… that is just too bad. I would love to be able to go there for a quick jog after work. The website is:
, in case you want or need some additional information.