The Memorial Branch of Big Tex Tree Nurseries at 10939 Katy Fwy. is closed for good, and its tree-dealings have moved south to the company’s Sugar Land locale for now. The Christmas trees disappeared after the holiday season, and everything else followed suit: “even the port-a-potty,” writes the reader who sent in photos of the now-bare freeway-side lot at Wycliffe and I-10, just outside Beltway 8. A Big Tex employee says the company is planning to open up another Houston location at some point, but for now the other spots in Sugar Land, Conroe, and Spring will have to do.
The lot is shown below post-faux-forest-departure; meanwhile, someone was out marking up the sidewalk with orange paint last week:
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The utility easement onto which operations had spread has also been vacated:
- Locations [Big Tex Tree Nurseries]
Photos: Richard C. (trees in place), Swamplot inbox (vacated lot and easement)
I nominate test tube baby trees and monochromatic colors to the end of year swamp lot awards, to be submitted for consideration into the most relevant category.
I used to lie nearby and always enjoyed passing by and getting my daily dose of Greenery….
Big Tex is owned by Moon Valley Nurseries in Phoenix, AZ. It’s rather ironic that they opened their Houston locations around 2009 because at the time the Phoenix and SoCal economies were in the toilet due to lots of foreclosures. No one out there was buying trees for their foreclosed homes, so they hit the road to Houston, one of the few places at that time that was booming. And here we are in 2016 and oil is below $30bbl .
Apparently the city is taking down big oak trees in the median of Dairy Ashford at Memorial today. Wonder why?Could be the long overdue expansion of Memorial though.
Mary — I can’t remember if it was here on Swamplot or elsewhere, but I remember reading that the city has plans to widen Dairy Ashford so that it’s three lanes in both directions all the way to Buffalo Bayou. Maybe that explains the tree work? Of course, I don’t think such widening is necessary as it would only shift traffic bottlenecks only slightly. . . .
Interesting, thanks. They are definitely widening Memorial to add a much needed turning lane.
Yes, I believe Memorial will still be two through lanes, but with medians and turn lanes between Eldridge and Kirkwood.