How the Houston Botanic Garden Came To Life — The Inside Story Of How Power Women Created the City’s Iconic Green Space

Houston Botanic Garden is celebrating its fifth birthday this fall. Formed on the historic 132-acre former Glenbrook Golf Course on Sims Bayou, the garden has become a beloved oasis of plant life and a much-needed addition to the Bayou City’s green spaces.

But how did it all begin? 

Two interviews with Houston Botanic Garden power women, conducted in 2020 before the garden’s official unveiling, unearthed from the PaperCity archives reveal plenty. Nancy Stallworth Thomas was one of the garden’s original visionaries, alongside the late Kay Crooker. Nancy O’Connor Abendshein played a leading role in the garden’s creation, and was recently recognized with the Visionary Award for Expanding Houston’s Green Space at the Houston PaperCity 2025 Design Awards. 

Ahead of Houston Botanic Garden’s upcoming annual luncheon dubbed “Building Branches” (set for this Thursday, October 23), let’s dive into the history of Houston’s first botanic garden with two women who helped make it happen.

Nancy O’Connor Abendshein, secretary and past board chair

PaperCity: Your earliest personal connection to nature? 

Nancy O’Connor Abendshein: My mother Maconda Brown O’Connor was so passionate about gardening. She spent a lot of time at Bayou Bend when I was kid, and I remember she would come home after a long day feeling so fulfilled.

The first nature organization you became involved with?

The River Oaks Garden Club, when I was in my late thirties. The membership was mostly friends of my mother and aunt. I don’t remember many of my contemporaries being members at the time, but I really wanted to be involved in a fantastic organization that focused on gardening. Working with the ROGC was such a rewarding and knowledge-expanding experience.

Why are green spaces important and why have they been your life’s mission?

Decades ago, Houston wasn’t the urban sprawl it is now. When I was growing up, you could go down Westheimer, just on the other side of 610, and enjoy tons of open fields and pastures. That was the start of my love of open spaces and nature. 

As Houston has grown, access to green space has been severely limited. Watching that disappear has always been heartbreaking, as I think green space can be such a valuable component of a great community.

My desire to develop green spaces probably came from my mother and other members of my broader family. One of my mother’s last projects before she passed was to help bring Discovery Green to fruition. I’ve tried to teach that importance to my children as well, who both work on developing green space access in our community through the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership. 

On that note: Your son Andrew Abendshein co-created the container farm Acre in a Box. Have you played an advisory role in his endeavor?

No, he did that all on his own. And he is now chairman of the board at Discovery Green, so we’re very proud of him and taking interest in Houston’s green spaces.

Your first introduction to Houston Botanic Garden and its board?

I was first asked to join the garden’s board by my aunt Anita Stude, who had a grand vision for Houston to have a botanical garden. At the time, I didn’t know how helpful I could be, but Anita’s passion rubbed off on me, and I joined the board. 

Eventually, Zinka Benton, the garden’s board chair, asked me to be vice chair. Unfortunately, Anita passed away in 2009, and Zinka in 2012. It was then that I moved up to board chair. I really felt we needed to make something happen for those two wonderful people who were so passionate about the garden. 

Biggest challenge of bringing the Garden to fruition?

Two: finding the perfect location, and selling the vision to the donors. We were so lucky that Mayor Annise Parker understood our vision, and helped us navigate the process so we could lease the Glenbrook Golf Course. I just couldn’t be happier with our site. It ended up being perfect.  

To get Glenbrook locked up, we had to prove to the city that we could raise the money to get this thing built. Thankfully, I had a fantastic board and staff who really sold the vision to the community.

Favorite spot in the Garden?

The Global Collection Garden is extraordinary — truly global in nature. I love how we are adding to nature, growing variety in beautiful ways: from the remarkable Arid Valley to the Mediterranean Garden, the Bamboo Tunnel and variety of Bromeliads surrounding The Sanctuary, the pathways winding through three acres of garden.

My close second would be The Alcoves; they are magnificent and offer a shady promenade with light and shadows dancing as the sun peeks through the palms, pines and interesting cutouts in the arches.

Who is your audience, and what do you hope they will experience at the garden?

Everyone in the city is in our immediate audience. Everyone that loves flowers, gardening and getting outside to reconnect with nature is going to love coming here. Also, we can’t wait to welcome people who’ll come from all over the state and the U.S. to see our world-class garden.

Nancy Stallworth Thomas, co-founder and chair emerita   

PaperCity: Your earliest personal connection to nature?

Nancy Stallworth Thomas: I am fortunate to have always lived in a home where nature, whether a garden or a wooded area, was part of the landscape. At a young age, my brother and I were free to explore. When we lived in a home some distance from town, I had a pony on which I was able to enjoy the wooded areas and a lovely stream at the foot of the hill where mint grew rampantly. Enjoying nature was, and is, a way of life. 

The first nature organization you became involved with?

The Garden Club of Houston. I have now been a member for over 50 years, and it has brought me knowledge, pleasure and wonderful friendships.

Why are green spaces important, and why have they been your life mission?

Trees, plants, animals and humans are all interrelated, and we learn from green spaces how dependent we are on all of these elements — and perhaps even the meaning of life. 

Take us back to the beginning. Where and when was the idea first born to create Houston Botanic Garden?

As I have traveled over the years, I’ve visited many private and public gardens. I have always been impressed by how much I learn and how much a garden enhances cities and homes. 

A botanic garden offers a lot of value. It is a place of beauty and serenity, as well as an exceptional teaching tool for the study of plants, conservation and scientific research. I knew that Houston, as a major city, very much needed to have a botanic garden. Happily, along my garden path, I have found many who have shared my belief.

Biggest challenge in bringing the Garden to fruition? 

Finding a site for the garden was probably the greatest challenge in the beginning, and it took several incarnations to arrive at our present beautiful location. Fortunately, my vision for a botanic garden took hold with some very dedicated people, both past and present, who served on the Houston Botanic Garden board and shared that vision. 

Our wonderful board chairman Nancy Abendshein has been our guiding light and a force to make things happen. I once saw a small plaque in a garden that read, “With merry companions, the way is never long.” I have worked with some wonderful, interested, and hard-working people who have also been quite merry. 

What you’re most excited about. 

It is so exciting to go to the garden with construction workers and equipment still busy everywhere, see the Global Collection Garden being planted, buildings going up, the Susan Garver Family Discovery Garden in place, fountains being created, a limitless future and legacy being created — it takes my breath away. 

Parting thought. 

I hope our audience will be the people of our diverse community, as well as a strong tourist attraction. It will be our Green Treasure for our city.

Houston Botanic Garden’s 2025 luncheon: Building Branches is set for this Thursday, October 23 at River Oaks Country Club. A reception will be held from 11 am to noon. The luncheon and program unfold from noon to 1 pm. For more information and tickets, go here.