Rooted Garden Celebrates Six Years of Creating Gardens in Houston
ROOTED GARDEN turns Six Years Old in Houston
In November of 2021, Rooted Garden invited 100s of the company’s kitchen garden clients to celebrate its six year anniversary at the home of Susanne Maida in Piney Point Village.
Started by Nicole Burke out of her own Houston backyard, Rooted Garden’s mission is to see everyone growing at least a little of their own food in Houston with their own kitchen garden before 2030.
Rooted Garden Celebrated with Garden Clients from 2016 to 2021
In its first six years, Rooted Garden has focused primarily on residential kitchen gardens inside in the Beltway in backyards in River Oaks District, Tanglewood, West University Place, Afton Oaks, the Memorial Villages including Hunters Creek Village and Piney Point and some homes in Montrose and the Heights.
Since its founding, Rooted Garden has grown primarily by word of mouth and the company’s two active Instagram platforms that Nicole updates as her team designs and installs new raised gardens.
One of Rooted Garden’s first clients, Marcia Smart, Cooking Instructor and Owner of Smart in the Kitchen, has been a big part of the company’s success as Marcia’s students love the way she incorporates her kitchen garden into her cooking and family meal planning.
Rooted Garden Promotes the Garden to Table Lifestyle with Fun & Learning Mixed In
The Rooted Garden Anniversary Celebration was catered by Mary Beth Events with garden inspired foods, moss table scapes and even copper plant tags to let everyone know what to eat first.
Mary Beth’s attention to detail for the event was incredible and the food was delicious.
The Joy School Was One of Rooted Garden’s First Clients to Bring the Garden to Its Houston Students
It was a treat to have Tamara Mayne of the Joy School at the 6 Year Celebration. In her first year in business in Houston, Nicole had the honor of working with the Joy School to create two large raised bed kitchen gardens for the Joy School’s students to enjoy during recess and as part of their learning curriculum.
Nicole and Tamara laughed at the memories of Tamara allowing Nicole’s four children to play in her office at the Joy School during the summer 2016 installation so she could finish the job in time for the school year to begin.
Tamara is now growing a garden of her own and got to attend the special event.
Founder, Nicole Burke Shared Her First Message that Launched Rooted Garden in 2015
I love two things about Houston: the gardens and the people, and my new company, Rooted Garden, brings these two things together.
These are the opening lines of the very first email I ever sent six years ago this month to introduce my company Rooted Garden. Later in the email, I promised that my goal for the year was to create 100 new gardens in our area within one year.
Well, my hands were shaking when I sent that email, I was so nervous. But as soon as I hit send, a miracle happened.
A friend of a friend forwarded the email to three of her friends. One of those friends was named Jenny, and Jenny did what so many of you have done time and time again. She came to the Rooted Garden website and pressed “Schedule a Consult with Me” for me to help her learn how to garden.
Nicole Burke Shares the Way Rooted Garden Began with Just One Client in West University
The day of the consult, I drove my van up to Jenny's home. I brought a lot of things with me, including photos to show her what was possible and even a big bowl of salad from my own garden. I was nervous, but I was ready.
I rang the doorbell, and when the door opened, it wasn't just Jenny standing there. She also had three of her friends over, Stacy, Julie, and Ann, and they were wondering what I was doing standing there with a bowl of lettuce.
I raced through an explanation of my new company, and they were so gracious and kind and even asked for my business card. It wasn’t until I was zipping out to my van to fetch my business cards that I thought to worry whether I’d even brought them! Fortunately, I had, so I handed them each a card and thought nothing of it.
Well, a month later, I was able to set up a garden for Jenny. We had so much fun together creating a little space in her backyard for her and her four kids. As the holidays approached, Ann asked her husband to gift her a garden from me for the holidays, and Stacy decided to gift a garden to her husband, John.
And Julie? Well, she kept me all to herself. I got to meet with Julie almost every week throughout the entire new year in her big backyard garden.
I can still remember taking a selfie with my first check addressed to Rooted Garden and sending it to my husband Jason with the caption “I can't believe someone just paid me to help them learn to garden!” I was shocked and surprised then, and I honestly am still surprised each and every time someone comes to the Rooted Garden site and hires us to help them in the garden.
Nicole Burke Shares How Rooted Garden’s Original Vision is More True than Ever Before
It's funny how one sentence can be true when you say it, but as the years pass, the same sentence still holds true but on a much deeper level. And that's truly the case for me. When I said that I love the gardens of Houston, I was speaking mostly from my own experience in my own little backyard garden.
I had no idea the amount of gardens that we would get to step into and create over the next six years.
There's no way I could have imagined the moments where we'd get to walk into your backyard with you and hear you say things like, “This is my space. Work your magic,” or even “This is all I have. Can you do something here?”
I had no idea the beauty that I would get to see be created and then evolve and grow season after season.
I didn’t know any of that when I said I love the gardens of Houston.
But because of you, I have a new appreciation for gardening in Houston.
I’ve gotten to experience so many magical moments where I've opened a gate, stepped into a backyard knowing there was a Rooted Garden there, and then been floored by the growth and the beauty that happens month after month here in Houston.
Nicole Burke Shares that the Best Part of Rooted Garden is the People
As many surprises as I’ve had about the gardens, I've also been so surprised about the people.
You know, when I first wrote that sentence, I only knew my neighbors, some friends, and the parents of my children's friends. But I didn't know you.
I had no idea that more than 500 of you would come and order a consultation from us and let us garden with you.
Over the last six years, you haven't just welcomed us into your backyards. You've welcomed us into your lives.
We've gotten to garden with you when you're celebrating new things, like welcoming a new baby or a child going off to college or a mother moving in with you.
We've gotten to garden with you when you're working through hard things, like sickness or a new diagnosis or a loss in your family.
The garden has been a true mirror of our lives, with highs and lows and everything in between.
Six Years is Just the Beginning for Rooted Garden
Over the six years, our gardens and our people have been through a lot together. There have been floods, there have been droughts, there have been heat waves and the huge freeze of 2021.
We've survived Hurricane Harvey together.
We've cheered for the Astros winning the World Series and losing two more.
We have watched when gardens turn out too small or too big or they're the wrong color or they're just not growing. We've survived aphid infestations and grubs and tomato hornworms. We've dealt with moments when there's too much kale and not enough tomatoes and “What is this on my plants?!”
Together, we have grown over the last six years. We've grown in big and small ways. And I'm so thankful for all that we've been able to accomplish together.
Six years later, our message has not changed. In fact, it's more true than ever. We love you, we love your gardens, and we are so thankful that you're bringing back the kitchen garden with us here in Houston, Texas, together.
Here's to this year and to many more of growing together in the garden! Thanks so much for being part of the Rooted Garden story.