North Haven Gardens: Cultivating Dallas Gardens for 70 years
Feb 26, 2021 08:30AM ● By Sheila Julson
North Haven Gardens was started in 1951 when Ralph and Muriel Pinkus founded the business in what was then a sparsely populated area of Dallas. What began as a small landscaping and nursery operation has blossomed into a full-service garden center, providing an array of plants, seeds, supplies and resources for indoor and outdoor gardening. It has thrived, despite being reduced to rubble after an EF3-level tornado ripped through the Dallas area on October 20, 2019.
“We held a ‘survivor sale’ with any salvageable plants, pots and garden supplies that were salable. The community turned out in droves,” says North Haven Gardens General Manager Cody Hoya. During the year-plus rebuilding process, the center remained open for business, operating from tents and temporary greenhouses.
“That experience gave us a rare opportunity to address longstanding issues with the property,” Hoya says. “We had a unique slope to the property—we were famous for, ‘If you let go of your shopping cart, it will roll away’— but the slope has been corrected in most areas, and we improved efficiency in the way the plants are laid out.”
North Haven Gardens’ ingenuity during their rebuild has served the public during the pandemic in what Hoya describes as an “exploding” interest in gardening. “It’s uncovered how disconnected the modern consumer can be from the seasonality of fruits and vegetables in a normal growing environment.”
Hoya says anyone with a bright, sunny sill can use equipment such as window greenhouses to plant seeds and start a small garden. “Seeds are one of the most efficient and economical ways of starting plants indoors,” he explains. Small transplants can also be used for certain herbs and edibles.
Some Jiffy Brand windowsill gardens have plastic dishes and lids, along with a seeding tray, potting soil or peat pellets and organic fertilizer. These kits allow people to grow basic lettuce, radish sprouts and microgreens. Hoya emphasizes that a windowsill herb or edible garden is unlikely to sustain an individual or a family. “But it can bring a nice additional touch to the things you are eating. You can add microgreens to salads, smoothies or even pizza. They bring nutrition, crunch and flavor.”
Culinary herbs can be grown indoors year-round. “You want bright light and a container with good drainage—a common error is to put something in a decorative pot that doesn’t have drainage. It gets waterlogged,” he explains. “You can also bring potted annual herbs like parsley indoors when the weather gets cold. Those herbs can be pinched and harvested throughout the winter.”
For nonedible plants used in home décor, Hoya says that houseplants were a trend even before the pandemic. Since the pandemic, plant collectors want to green their spaces and improve air quality; a trend reminiscent of the 1970s.
“Some of the favorite plants used for purifying indoor air are what we consider ‘old school’ houseplants like pothos ivy, classic green jade and what we call the ‘goof-proof’ houseplants for beginners, because they’re very forgiving,” he says. “The snake plant, known by the genus sansevieria, include mother-in-law’s tongue. They are bright succulents good for indoor air purification.” Hoya also recommends fiddle-leaf fig, a decorative plant that’s tricky to grow, but popular for indoor décor and air quality.
Outdoors, small balconies or urban yards can offer space for supplemental herbs and vegetables. When choosing gardening areas, Hoya suggests evaluating sun exposure and daylight hours. “We consider six or more hours of direct sunlight to be full sun, but lots of herbs will grow in partial sun, which is three or four hours of direct sunlight,” he says.
Because the North Texas climate is so variable between hot and cold, Hoya says it’s also important to consider the time of day sunlight falls on planting space; a space that get five hours of direct sun between 1 and 6 p.m. during July can reach up to 110 degrees, whereas the hours between sunrise to noon are ideal, because it’s shaded from scorching afternoon sun.
“Consider if you will, planting in-ground or in containers,” Hoya adds. “Modern horticulture has produced lots of varieties of classic vegetables like cucumbers and watermelons that used to take up lots of space, but we’ve developed hybrids—not GMOs—such as patio or ‘celebrity’ tomatoes that have been hybridized to remain compact and more suitable to balconies and small urban spaces.”
North Haven Gardens maintains a popular online month-by-month reference planting calendar. Hoya also recommends engaging with local plant groups for advice.
North Haven Gardens is located at 7700 Northaven Rd., in Dallas. For more information, call 214-363-5316 or visit NHG.com.
“We held a ‘survivor sale’ with any salvageable plants, pots and garden supplies that were salable. The community turned out in droves,” says North Haven Gardens General Manager Cody Hoya. During the year-plus rebuilding process, the center remained open for business, operating from tents and temporary greenhouses.
North Haven Gardens’ ingenuity during their rebuild has served the public during the pandemic in what Hoya describes as an “exploding” interest in gardening. “It’s uncovered how disconnected the modern consumer can be from the seasonality of fruits and vegetables in a normal growing environment.”
Supplemental Gardens for Small Spaces
Hoya says anyone with a bright, sunny sill can use equipment such as window greenhouses to plant seeds and start a small garden. “Seeds are one of the most efficient and economical ways of starting plants indoors,” he explains. Small transplants can also be used for certain herbs and edibles.
Some Jiffy Brand windowsill gardens have plastic dishes and lids, along with a seeding tray, potting soil or peat pellets and organic fertilizer. These kits allow people to grow basic lettuce, radish sprouts and microgreens. Hoya emphasizes that a windowsill herb or edible garden is unlikely to sustain an individual or a family. “But it can bring a nice additional touch to the things you are eating. You can add microgreens to salads, smoothies or even pizza. They bring nutrition, crunch and flavor.”
For nonedible plants used in home décor, Hoya says that houseplants were a trend even before the pandemic. Since the pandemic, plant collectors want to green their spaces and improve air quality; a trend reminiscent of the 1970s.
“Some of the favorite plants used for purifying indoor air are what we consider ‘old school’ houseplants like pothos ivy, classic green jade and what we call the ‘goof-proof’ houseplants for beginners, because they’re very forgiving,” he says. “The snake plant, known by the genus sansevieria, include mother-in-law’s tongue. They are bright succulents good for indoor air purification.” Hoya also recommends fiddle-leaf fig, a decorative plant that’s tricky to grow, but popular for indoor décor and air quality.
Outdoors, small balconies or urban yards can offer space for supplemental herbs and vegetables. When choosing gardening areas, Hoya suggests evaluating sun exposure and daylight hours. “We consider six or more hours of direct sunlight to be full sun, but lots of herbs will grow in partial sun, which is three or four hours of direct sunlight,” he says.
Because the North Texas climate is so variable between hot and cold, Hoya says it’s also important to consider the time of day sunlight falls on planting space; a space that get five hours of direct sun between 1 and 6 p.m. during July can reach up to 110 degrees, whereas the hours between sunrise to noon are ideal, because it’s shaded from scorching afternoon sun.
“Consider if you will, planting in-ground or in containers,” Hoya adds. “Modern horticulture has produced lots of varieties of classic vegetables like cucumbers and watermelons that used to take up lots of space, but we’ve developed hybrids—not GMOs—such as patio or ‘celebrity’ tomatoes that have been hybridized to remain compact and more suitable to balconies and small urban spaces.”
North Haven Gardens maintains a popular online month-by-month reference planting calendar. Hoya also recommends engaging with local plant groups for advice.
North Haven Gardens is located at 7700 Northaven Rd., in Dallas. For more information, call 214-363-5316 or visit NHG.com.
