BEFORE
AFTER
Downtown Houston’s Discovery Green is on full display as the city welcomes the world for FIFA World Cup 2026 action. M2L Associates provided landscape architecture and urban forestry expertise on a fast-tracked project to improve the landscape and refresh the gardens throughout the park.
Discovery Green is an almost 12-acre urban park in the heart of downtown Houston, next to the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Avenida Houston entertainment district. Drawing more than 3 million visitors each year, Discovery Green is known as a green urban oasis with 12 lush, themed gardens, a 1-acre lake, spray fountains and water features and plenty of manicured lawns for events and recreation — not to mention a slew of free, family-friendly events and programming.
In advance of the World Cup, Discovery Green has also been integrated into a massive 14-mile Green Corridor project that connects the east downtown FIFA Fan Festival and Shell Energy Stadium to NRG Stadium (known as Houston Stadium during the World Cup) through key downtown locales like Midtown, Rice University, Hermann Park and the Columbia Tap Trail in the Third Ward. Fans can connect by foot, bike, rail and trail with plenty of seats, shade, art installations, and wayfinding and educational displays along the way.
With the park serving as a central hub for soccer fans, Discovery Green Conservancy leaders wanted the green space and its gardens at peak form and function. After meeting with conservancy leaders, M2L’s team set to work to test and improve soil health, add significant new plantings, and make irrigation repairs, one of numerous projects that were underway leading up to the world’s largest sporting event.
Garden Improvements from the soil up
The park’s sustainability mission — the green in Discovery Green — has always been front and center with its beauty and usability goals, and this project was no exception. M2L Principal, certified arborist and team lead Michael Mauer said everyone on the design and installation team understood Discovery Green’s beauty and functionality come from its underlying health and sustainability.
“This project focused on improving and refreshing the gardens from the foundation up, with a thorough evaluation and testing of site conditions guiding all project recommendations,” Mauer said. “By promoting healthier soil and root growth, M2L’s improvements help ensure the long-term success, vitality and appearance of the landscape at Discovery Green.”
Honor original garden designs with thoughtful improvements
M2L’s Leti Garcia, a landscape architect on the current design team, had the unusual perspective of working with Discovery Green’s original design firm before joining M2L. “As designers, we wanted to respect the original landscape design of the park while making thoughtful improvements where needed,” she said. “We incorporated plant materials that were similar in type and style to the existing design but also enhanced the landscape by replacing damaged or declining plants, many of which were affected by recent frost events, with species that are better suited to the park’s ever-changing microclimates.”
Garcia said the project improved the landscape in and around many of the garden’s popular amenities. “We carefully protected mature trees along the Brown Foundation Promenade, and aerated areas near the Children’s Garden to improve soil health and root health, mulch absorption and reduce compaction,” she said. “By replacing damaged and declining plants with species better suited to the park’s evolving microclimates, we helped ensure the landscape can continue to thrive while preserving the original design vision and character of Discovery Green.”
A signature feature of Discovery Green is its themed gardens, such as the Hummingbird Garden, the White Garden, the Native Plant Garden and the Global Garden. Over the years, Garcia explained, the microclimate within each garden changes due to growing tree canopies, shifting sun exposure and increasing areas of shade.
“One of the biggest design challenges was selecting plant materials that could thrive in the new conditions while still fitting the original character of each garden, she said. “For example, the White Garden required white flowering and white foliage plants that would perform well in deep shade, so we specified Monroe White liriope, variegated asiatic jasmine, sweetbay magnolia tree and variegated fatsia for a serene, neutral effect against some of the other gardens’ vibrant colors.”
Another challenge was the fast-tracked schedule. “With the World Cup and several major events approaching, the project had a tight design and construction timeline,” Garcia said. “Thanks to an exceptional team of contractors and strong coordination throughout the process, we were able to complete the work in plenty of time for visitors to enjoy the gardens during the FIFA World Cup.”
The result shows a dramatic transformation of Discovery Green, now a renewed, refreshed and even greener urban oasis that not only looks its best for the World Cup but will stay healthy and thriving for the long term.
Learn more about Discovery Green events and programming during the FIFA World Cup