Pine Bluff -- Dunklin Garden 1955-1987

The house and gardens were inspired by a house called "Green Leaves" in Mississippi that was built around a large oak tree. The plans for this garden involved a glass house wrapped around the largest of three oak trees on the property. The plan featured a large flagstone terrace with an "S" curved seating wall built around the largest oak and an open lawn for the children to play in. The plan also provided for privacy by the planting of a deep "woodsy" border along the property line to the east. Plantings of oaks, live oaks, pines, and dogwoods over camellias and azleas, set in deep beds bordered by mondo grass, were installed. Holly hedges marked the property lines east and north. Access to the side yard from the back garden was through a gate set in a brick wall that connected the house to the property line to the east. Another huge oak gave shade to the west front of the house. A grove of river birches and naturalized daffodils was planted close to the south side of the house. Another holly hedge made an enclosed area around the west library window. Circa 1960, the owners increased the depth of the center tree and shrub border about 20 feet and added more azaleas and dogwood trees. Owners after 1987 have not maintained the garden according to its original plan. Most of the trees are now gone.

Persons associated with the property include: J. Duke Moody (landscape architect, 1955); Louis M. Dunklin (architect, 1955).