Made in the Shade

Jeanne Spencer’s roots are evident in her Little Rock garden, where the Arkansas native’s love of the South shows in the magnolias, crepe myrtles, azaleas, camellias and hydrangeas amassed in the landscape.

Inspired by her favorite courtyards in Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans, Jeanne and her husband Dan began transforming their backyard into what she calls “a Southern-style city garden” nearly 16 years ago, when the couple returned to their hometown after two decades spent in Dallas. Located in the Prospect Terrace area of Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood, the lot was “a blank canvas, with some tall trees but not much else,” says Jeanne. “It’s a city lot, and the first challenge was how to turn a small space into an inviting garden.”

In her quest to gain gardening insight, Jeanne became a master gardener and established deep ties with the statewide gardening community—joining multiple garden clubs, the Central Arkansas Horticultural Society, the Ouachita Hosta & Shade Plant Society, and eventually serving as the president of the Little Rock Council of Garden Clubs as well as chairing the board of the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show. As her knowledge of regional plants and styles grew, her garden began to take shape as well.

“Most of the major Southern cities have beautiful gardens tucked into small lots, and they have the element of mystery, since it’s a surprise to find them behind an urban house,” says Jeanne. “Those gardens guided me in what we created here.”

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