Bryan & College Station, Texas

I found this place driving my daughter to Reed Arena when the circus was in town. I took a couple of wrong turns and WOW!

I love gardening. Well, when the plants don’t die on me. Flowers are so pretty and complex and beautiful. Turns out, for the most part, all you have to do is water them.

The Holistic Garden is right in the middle of the A&M campus, right behind the Horticultural Building. I’ve been trying to find a map to the place, but I can’t.

If you take University Dr. past the campus, go under Wellborne Rd., then after about 1/4 of a mile, you’ll see the Large Animal Clinic. Across from that building, there’s a street called Horticulture Drive. Take that roaduntil it “T’s” and take a left, then your first right. Follow that road and you’ll see the gardens.

The garden started in 1985 as a garden science lab, and has grown into an educational resource for the school as well as the community.

Canna lilies in colors I’ve never seen before, Passiflora vines covering several arbors, vertical gardens, Coleus varieties I never knew existed and Hollyhocks taller than my house. They’ve got a gazebo with benches, educational activities and explanations all over the grounds, and a couple of greenhouses to explore.

They really take care of the grounds and the plants.

They have plant sales a few times a year, and some of the money goes to some of the student workers.

Don’t miss this in the spring. It will take your breath away.

Jorge

We’ve only been to the Farm Patch once, but we really liked it. It was a really nice produce market with just about any fruit or vegetable you’d need.

It reminded me of markets in Puerto Rico and Mexico, although, quite a bit cleaner.

Be sure to check out the far corner of the store where they have their “Dollar Bins” where you can find anything from potatoes to grapes to canteloupes. Maybe they’re not as pretty as the items out front, but a buck for a basket of grapes is great.

Aside from fresh produce, they have herbs, plants, cheese, meat, local honey and local pecans (when they’re in season). I saw quite a bit of organic produce, although I can’t afford to buy organic all the time.

I read somewhere that when you’re shopping, that if you stay on the outside walls of the store, you’ll be OK (the inside aisles are the ones with the boxes, cans and bags of over-processed foods). Farm patch is like the outside walls of the store, without the inside aisles.

The Farm Patch is across from Chicken Oil Company on College Avenue.

Jorge