November 11th, 2023 Garden Tour – 605 Aurora St.

Sharon Stinson & Greg Lopp

The Yarden is our happy place.

Twenty years ago when I was searching for a house in The Heights, one of my biggest requirements was a sunny yard for growing. I started by creating a ‘practice bed’ in the backyard and filled it with random perennials that looked interesting or that I knew from growing in Austin. It did not take long to learn that Houston has a climate all its own.

Then one bed became two, then three, then four to six. We discovered surprises that only an old lot could bring in the form of hundreds of pounds of broken bricks buried right under the soil, a forty foot stretch of carpet less than two inches below the surface and a few action figures lost since the 1970s.

With large sycamores surrounding and shading the backyard, we shifted our growing to the sunnier areas of the yard. There are always between 15-30 containers growing vegetables in the driveway. The front yard has full sun and therefore it is where we grow most of our vegetables. The beds we built lining our front sidewalk have been filled with 80 sq. ft. of corn, 12’ tomatoes, and 14’ okra.

Our tours last about an hour and are always free.

Bring a friend and come enjoy an awesome garden!

The owners will be there to answer any of your questions.