Some 80 years of careful planning and pruning have gone into creating the Bayou Bend gardens we see today. Originally the home of Houston socialite and philanthropist Ima Hogg, the house and grounds were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1957. By that time, Miss Hogg and her troop of gardeners had carved an oasis out of a dense thicket, planting nine gardens. The formal gardens include classic statues and water fountains among the neatly cultivated grounds, filled with yaupon hedges, azaleas, ferns and rotund pine trees. Located farthest away from the house is the informal white garden, where white tulips, azaleas, gardenias and dogwood abound. The wild ravines and thicket that surround Bayou Bend are a wonderful contrast to the well-tended gardens, both of which managed to survive the recent drought intact.