Bayou Bend Gardens - Topiary Garden

This unusual garden--the last to be established at Bayou Bend--was a gift from the River Oaks Garden Club in celebration of the United States Bicentennial in 1976. For the topiary figures, Miss Hogg chose a turkey, squirrel, rabbit, and deer to represent the wildlife of Texas in 1776. The eagle symbolizes the United States.

Each topiary animal was made from a hollow frame of metal wire that was stuffed with mulch and planted with miniature fig vine. The figures are arranged in a circular, brick-paved garden around a central star of clipped dwarf yaupon, which represents Texas as the "Lone Star State."

The topiary figures cannot survive freezing conditions, so during winter you may see them protected by plastic coverings. The garden is abloom with tulips in March, George Tabor azaleas in March and April, and caladiums in May through August.

Topiary Garden, 1975-76
Designed by A. Gregory Catlow in collaboration with Miss Hogg

Miss Hogg died in August 1975, before the garden could be completed, but today the Topiary Garden fulfills her vision as a living tribute to Texas and to America's nationhood.

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This website was a created as a class project by students at the University of Houston College of Education. It is not the approved website for the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens or the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Refer to the MFAH website for information about Bayou Bend at: http://www.mfah.org.