Fountains, aquatic plants among specialties

Nelson Water Gardens and Nursery owners Rolf and Anita Nelson purposefully positioned benches throughout their gardens to invite customers to relax and enjoy the nearby water lilies, koi and impatiens.

The nursery, which opened 16 years ago, specializes in aquatic plants, fountains and ponds.

"The sound of water provides that opportunity to relax in your own yard," Rolf Nelson said. "It calms you down. It lowers tension, anxiety."

In addition to more than 50 different aquatic and bog plants, Nelson Water Gardens, off Katy Fort Bend Road, sells dozens of vegetable starters and plants, 10 different types of fish and more than 40 varieties of herbs.

"It is fun, and it's different from any other style of gardening you may have encountered before because the element of water is introduced to the garden," Rolf's wife Anita Nelson said. "Water is actively moving within the garden."

The Nelsons' son, Peter Nelson, developed a Disappearing Fountain they sell at their store, where water is pumped from a hidden reservoir buried in the ground and then disappears back into the ground. In addition to selling them at their nursery, they distribute the pre-molded reservoirs to about 40 different nurseries around Houston and throughout the United States.

The Nelsons, who both have their bachelor's degree in horticulture, started their business after working for another aquatic plants business for two decades. The couple, who have four children, ages 14 to 32, used all of their savings and asked several friends to invest in their business.

The couple said they love the freedom of owning their own business.

"We decided to do what we really have a passion for," Rolf Nelson said.

Nelson Water Gardens also sells yard ornaments, wind chimes, decorations, fish food and accessories for an aquatic garden.

The nursery has one of the largest selections of pottery in Houston, the owners said, which is often made into fountains for customers. The nursery also offers residential and commercial landscape work.

The Nelsons encourage customers to bring their children and grandchildren to visit the nursery, and they also provide children the opportunity to feed koi in an onsite pond.

"I think gardening in any of its forms is important for children to be exposed to," Anita Nelson said. "When you can grow your own food, it makes you feel like you have some control over your life. It's a real sense of achievement."

Additional info

Nelson Water Gardens and Nursery holds several events throughout the year:,

• Saturday informational lectures are conducted in the spring
• Garden Party held every April
• Easter egg hunt and a St. Patrick's day hunt that both offer one $1,000 gift certificate to their gardens
• Two evening parties on July 3 and another in October for customers to enjoy the gardens and their landscape lighting in the evening

Unique water lily

A third of their business is aquatics, and they grow all the aquatic plants they sell, Rolf Nelson said. Nelson Water Gardens and Nursery cultivates its own unique water lily, a deep purple tropical lily with a black bud instead of the usual green bud. More than 10 years ago, the nursery's head propagator, Mike Swize, noticed the unique water lily growing in one of its tanks and worked to successfully propagate it.

The Nelsons named the lily after a friend of their daughter, Lindsey Woods, who was dying of cancer at about that time they discovered the flower. The nursery now donates half the proceeds from the flower to Texas Children's Hospital. They have donated more than $100,000 for cancer research over the past 10 years.

Nelson Water Gardens

1502 Katy Fort Bend County Road, Katy, 281-391-4769, nelsonwatergardens.com

Hours:

• Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
• Sun. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.