The Heights Garden Club is venturing a little ways outside of the Heights this month, as we head to Montrose to visit the garden of Dee Howell at 1518 Ridgewood.

Dee Howell was a horticulturist with the City of Houston for 28 years and with Harris County for 9 years before that. She has been gardening at the house on Ridgewood for 40 years. The 5 gallon trees that she planted years ago are now towering above the 2 story house, and little by little the grass has given way to perennials. This is a gardener’s garden, full of specimen plants collected over a lifetime. The shaded front is full of a variety of blooming gingers, Persian shield, and trumpet flowers mixed with butterfly attractors such as buttonbush, cassia andor, and wallichii (bridal veil), plus Dutchman’s pipevine currently covered with swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.

The backyard is equally inviting. A comfortable and lived in covered deck looks out over a small, shaded garden home to many varieties of clerodendrum and begonias and landscaped with recycled materials. Small fountains with goldfish bubble on the deck. Hoya succulents in pots adorn the fence. Slightly hidden close by are compost bins and rain barrels. The driveway connecting the front and backyards is lined with potted vegetables.

Please join us for this little gardening adventure. It’s free and all are welcome!