Drive-By Gardens: Cottage garden color explosion in Houston Heights
Go see the flower garden on Peddie Street, my sister urged when I told her I’d be in Houston for a garden tour. It was the same advice I’d recently gotten from a Digging reader, who told me the garden on Peddie was not to be missed, should I return to Houston this spring.
And how could one miss it? Arriving in the Bayou City last Friday afternoon, my friend Diana and I cruised down Peddie in the historic Houston Heights neighborhood, looking for a colorful garden, assured that we’d know it when we saw it. When a blazing red cottage with moss-green and sky-blue trim appeared, surrounded by a kaleidoscopically colorful garden, we knew we’d found it.
Flowers spill into the street, with edibles like lettuces, chard, and herbs mixed in among flowering annuals. This is a garden that refuses to be contained or constrained.
Luminous, red-veined chard consorts with red-hot dianthus along the curb, electrifying the street-side view.
The tiny garden at 605 Peddie Street is completely “flowered up,” with no concession to negative space that a small lawn or front patio might provide. It reminded me of the colorful cottage gardens I saw on the Buffalo Fling in 2010 and also Lucinda Hutson’s garden in Austin.
The city sidewalk is set well back from the street and runs right through the middle of the garden, so Diana and I felt comfortable exploring and photographing from the public walk. As we were snapping away, the owner, wearing skinny pants as red as his house, strode out the open front door to move a hose. He was unfazed by the sight of us and our cameras, clearly inured to spontaneous garden visits from strangers.
As we exclaimed over his delphiniums (they liked the cold winter this year, he said), he kindly stopped to chat with us a few minutes and introduced himself as horticulturist and landscape consultant Terry Gordon Smith.
According to his website, he bought the 1912 cottage in 2004 and began ripping out the traditional lawn in order to “plant as many flowering plants as possible from my long list, without any regard for a structured garden design.”
It was, he says, a “singularly selfish” activity for his own pleasure, but it soon captured the attention of passersby, who began leaving him notes, visiting the garden on their lunch breaks, and bringing their friends and family to see it.
The power of flowers!
These bees are made happy by them too.
Dill in flower
Ornamental cabbage, oxalis, and dianthus
What a happy, charming garden and a delight to visit, especially since we were able to meet the gardener who created it. Our Houston garden-touring weekend was off to a fun start.
Coming soon: With a neighborly nod to flower power, the garden right across the street from this one was also awash in color, with native wildflowers thrown into the mix and clipped boxwoods added for year-round structure. Click for my Drive-By post about the second Peddie Street garden!
All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
You would never be unhappy looking out onto this colorful garden. What a treat!
It makes you smile, that’s for sure. —Pam
That is beautiful Pam!
Did it remind you of Buffalo gardens, Jim? —Pam
My kind of garden. Love the happy, tumbling abundance. Houston has had a lot of rain. I’m betting nearly everyone’s garden there is happy. Such a treat to see this from my drought-stricken perch where only occasional drizzles are negated by harsh drying winds. Thanks for this tour, Pam. Photos, as always, are superb. My fave is kitty by the door!
Sandy, they have had a lot more rain than central Texas, and it showed. Local gardeners told me that they’d had two 20-degree freezes this winter, which is unusual for them, so I was surprised to see as much blooming so early as we did. —Pam
I live right up the street and was biking home and saw y’all taking pictures. I always expect that to be happening more often. We actually haven’t had much rain here in Houston and are still in a mild drought so I’m always amazed at the amount of work and water it must require to keep his garden looking so lovely. My husband and I have done the same think with our front and back yards up the street but have gone exclusively perennials and vegetables, such a different feeling. I envy his use of annuals for more year round color. My love of this style of garden actually started when I lived on Rosedale in Austin right down the street from Lucinda’s garden. It’s still a must drive by every time I visit.
I love that you lived near both this garden and Lucinda’s.
I know, right? —Pam
Did you know it was me, Sharon? I’m amazed by the coincidence that you saw me out there and that you read my blog! Your street must be full of front-yard gardens; I wish I’d seen yours too. I’ll be posting about the one across the street later today. —Pam
I didn’t know it was you at the time Pam, perhaps because we see a face online and don’t think ‘hey, that Austin person is at a garden right down the street from me.’ 🙂 In hindsight, it was obvious.
The full front yard gardens seem to be most common here in the Heights and Montrose, primarily because we have no zoning and very few HOA’s that can tell us what to do. When I lived in Austin I stripped my whole backyard at the house on Rosedale. It was a rental property and I called it my practice garden, throw things in the ground, see what happens, and learn. Then I did the same thing to a house in Allandale, again only backyard. It wasn’t until I moved to The Heights that I felt comfortable taking over the front yard too.
Rock those front gardens! —Pam
Hi Sharon…just wondered if you know the Heights now has an active garden club. Terry Gordon Smith along with Portia Leyedecker, Brenda Smith,Jennifer Trandell, Dee Melancon (Owner of the Heights Pages) and myself are on the planning committee. They have a FB page and website ( http://www.heightsgardenclub.com/ ) and a email list and have tours the second Saturday of the month, along with other events. It is all free, fun and a way for people that love plants to connect, no gardening experience required.
Laurin, I know about the group but I have clients every Saturday morning so I can’t ever make any of the tours. I’m on the Facebook group and keep hoping something will happen on Sunday or later in the day on Saturdays.
Looks like some of the houses in the King William district in San Antonio!! I wouldn’t know where to look first!
I’ll have to look for the King William district the next time I’m in San Antonio, Martha. I’ve never been there. —Pam
Ooooooh. What a lovely treat to see what “instead of lawn” can look like in a different part of the state. TG Smith may not have had any consideration for structured garden design with these plantings but his color sense is on clear display in the many echoes between his house paint and trim choices and the gorgeous plants all around it. Thank you so much for sharing these images. I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to this post again and again when my eyes need cheering up!
Come back at noon today, TexasDeb, for a 2nd Drive-By post about another colorful garden across the street from this one. —Pam
Electrifying! Mouth-watering! I like his attitude: It was, he says, “a ‘singularly selfish’ activity for his own pleasure” but in reality it is a gift shared with all who pass by. I’m looking forward to images from the rest of your tour.
Yes, exactly, Jane. A garden like this becomes, to some degree, everyone’s garden. —Pam
Fascinating! I was soooo pleasantly surprised to see a ‘drive-by garden’ post this morning. I figured after this strange Winter/Spring there probably wouldn’t be any for a good while, with so many plants lazily rolling out of bed, so to speak. 😀
Houston is on an entirely different planet, I sometimes think, from the rest of Texas. Tune in at noon, Kate, for a second Drive-By post! —Pam
Wonderful photos! I am sharing the blog with Terri and the rest of the Heights Garden club. : ) Hope you enjoyed the rest of your garden tours. The weather Saturday was perfect!
Laurin, it was such a beautiful weekend for garden touring, and having dinner with you and Shawn and Melissa capped off the fun! Diana and I stopped by your house on Saturday morning and admired your lovely garden from the sidewalk. You weren’t there, but maybe next time I’ll be able to have a tour? —Pam
I visit Terry’s garden at least once a week because it is always changing and never disappoints.
Chris, you were the one who kindly let me know about this garden, in addition to my sister. Thanks! It was a treat to see. —Pam
I love this! As much as I’ve learned to love more restrained, contemporary gardens, there’s something to be said for a lush jungle full of color, and this fits the bill exactly. The thing that really pulls it all together for me is how the flowers match the house.
Yes, he has an artist’s eye for color. You are right, Lori, that a lush flower garden will turn the head of even a die-hard foliage lover. Well, it turns my head, anyway. This isn’t my personal style, but I sure would love to see it every day if one of my neighbors ever felt like going all flowery in their yard. —Pam
Wonderful photos of that great house. I especially love how you captured the dill – it looks like fireworks with that little hint of red near the bottom of the shot.
I look forward to seeing your post about it, Diana. We had good luck with our drive-bys, didn’t we? —Pam
What a great looking garden. Thanks for sharing the pics.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Laura. —Pam
I love how over-the-top and unexpected this wonderful garden is. I don’t think of Delphiniums as Texas plants. I love the shot of the red-veined chard with the red Dianthus.
Delphiniums are definitely not Austin plants, Alison. In central Texas we have better luck with larkspur, “poor man’s delphinium.” But we saw quite a few in Houston. Maybe their higher rainfall makes the difference? —Pam
Thanks for posting this. What a lovely front yard! I love how the house colors are perfectly in sync with the beds: red, green and blue.
Yes, the owner has a great eye for color! —Pam
What as always struck me about his house is that most of the windows have no visible blinds or coverings. Guess no one’s interested in looking at anything but the profusion of flowers! A “mouthwatering” garden, indeed.
I didn’t even notice that, Vicki, but you’re right. He also left his front door open most of the time that we were in the garden, so he clearly doesn’t mind people getting a peek at the inside too. —Pam
Vicki, Terry’s house has two large two-story homes on either side and large trees in the backyard…window coverings would make little rooms of the bungalow really dark inside..not Terry’s thing at all. Not for all tastes, but it works for him.
And oh…in the summer…the backyard is cool in its own way.
That is a party!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in love…
Heather, maybe you need to make a road trip to Houston this spring too! —Pam
If someone had told me that I could fall in love with red house with green and blue trim, I’d have called them crazy. But this house and garden are perfect! thanks for sharing your great pictures.
Just goes to show that with thoughtful design, anything can work, right? —Pam
This made me cry in a happy way. I just wanna BE that house and yard. God bless the people who paint their houses red.
You ARE that house and yard, Mamaholt. Who else do I know with Peter Pan and a mermaid painted on their home? Keep on rocking your own happy style! —Pam
OH, you made my day, lady! Now if only I had plants! HAHAHAH.
What is that hangy tree in the yard? And the vine over the door? Oh that humid Houston air. I miss it.
The drooping tree is a weeping bottlebrush, and I believe that’s a red rose trained over the door. As for the humid Houston air — well, I confess we didn’t miss it when it disappeared on Saturday morning, after a cold front came through. 🙂 —Pam
Spectacular!
I love it! Also recognized it from an old magazine that I’ve kept just because of the photos and short article on this place. Does anyone have pictures of what it looks like during the winter months? Just curious.
Marvelous!