Back in April, work took me to Houston. While there, I stepped back in time with a visit to Bayou Bend, the formal estate garden of Houston socialite, art collector, and philanthropist Ima Hogg. The daughter of a Texas governor with terrible baby-naming skills, Ima shouldered the burden of her unfortunate moniker while fending off rumors of a sister named Ura.
Ima and her brothers built a blush-pink, classical home in the 1920s on a 14-acre, thickety parcel in the new neighborhood of River Oaks. Ima began work on the gardens immediately, planting Southern stalwarts like magnolias, crape myrtles, camellias, and azaleas and choosing Greek muses as themes for three of the gardens.
Ima eventually became sole owner of the house, and she never married. In 1957 she donated Bayou Bend and her collections to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The River Oaks Garden Club has kept the gardens going since the 1960s. In 2001 they instituted all-organic garden care.
Clio Garden
You enter the garden by crossing Buffalo Bayou, a broad, muddy creek, on a bouncy suspension bridge — a concession to Ima’s neighbors, who didn’t want visitor traffic on their quiet streets. The bridge transports you into another world, far from the busy city all around you. You step into the serene, green Clio Garden.
A white statue of Clio, muse of history, holds your gaze amid dozens of boxwood globes. Azaleas in parterre beds must be colorful in March, but by mid-April the garden was simply emerald green.
Terraced lawn
A graciously terraced lawn steps down from the colonnaded back of the house to a reflecting pool and statue of Diana below.
Diana Garden
Diana the Huntress and stag stand out against a staggered yew hedge, the large reflecting pool in front.
Diana reaches for an arrow in her quiver, while behind her, a modern tower looms over the frozen scene.
Heading around the house, I admired an enormous Southern magnolia in bloom.
Fuzzy-capped buds and glossy leaves
And then, ka-pow! A fragrant, waxy white blossom.
A lime-green anole rested nearby.
Euterpe Garden
Euterpe, one of the nine muses, glows against a curved yew hedge.
The goddess of music, she holds a small horn.
A scaly pine soars skyward.
Brick-and-gravel steps fringed with monkey grass lead to…
…a small terrace, where an iron birdbath and perching frog greet you.
East Garden
An octagonal fountain sprays a mist of water in the East Garden, which reaches out from the side of the house.
Curlicued wrought iron frames a view of lawn, topiary, and fountain.
An iron wall planter clasps pots of trailing ivy.
Woodland
Not all of the garden is formal. Naturalistic woodland occupies a good portion of the grounds, with walking paths and juniper-railed bridges arching over ravines and streams.
Another pretty anole
Ferns and monkey grass clothe a slope.
Butterfly Garden
One of the newer gardens is the formal Butterfly Garden, where a brick butterfly flexes topiary wings of boxwood and azaleas, which must offer a colorful view in early spring.
Iron benches are marked as being forged in New Orleans.
Wrought-iron shadows
And here’s Cupid, jubilant over his prize — a captured heart.
Cast-iron plant presses against a juniper stair rail…
…and adds broad-leaf contrast to a bank of lacy ferns.
Delicate white blossoms of mock orange brighten a shady path.
View through a gate
When Ima lived here, Bayou Bend was accessed via Lazy Lane, now one of the wealthiest streets in the River Oaks neighborhood. As I explored the estate’s driveway garden, I spotted a distinctive shape through an open-slatted gate of a neighboring private home. A spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, I was sure of it. Wow! I did a little investigating online and think this is the same Bourgeois spider displayed in Hermann Park in 2014. The headless, armless bodies standing in formation are the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz.
The other Bourgeois spider I’ve seen — and it’s a monumental one — is at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. Once you’ve seen one, you sure notice when you spot another.
Bayou Bend house
But let’s turn our attention back to Bayou Bend. This is the Lazy Lane side of the house. Does the pink-and-green color scheme remind you of Monet’s garden home in Giverny, at least a muted version?
You can take a house tour, but I stuck to the gardens this time.
Bayou Bend may be an old-fashioned style of garden for our current era, but it’s a pleasant place to while away a couple of hours. Ima would no doubt be pleased to know her garden oasis lives on.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
__________________________
Digging Deeper
Come learn about garden design from the experts at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 7 starts in August. Stay tuned for the lineup!
All material © 2023 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
The post Ima Hogg’s Bayou Bend garden is preserved in time appeared first on Digging.
