The Plum Bayou Garden

The Plum Bayou Garden. . Plants of the past rooted early people to this land. , European farmers were not the first to cultivate plants here on these lands. People were here long before who survived, told stories about, and even celebrated these humble resources around them. , The garden layout reflects a design widely used by Arkansas Indians to symbolically portray linked communities of plants and people on the earth's surface. , When pottery with this design is viewed from above, the interlocking scrolls create a square. The jar's mouth creates a central circle symbolizing a portal connecting communities to an invisible spirit world, and through which life-giving forces were made accessible. , This garden is based on the archeological study of plant remains. , These plants have been documented at Woodland period archeological sites in Arkansas including here at Toltec Mounds. , Our garden highlights some of the, plants vital to past peoples, how they may have been used, and how inodern researchers come to understand the long relationships between people and plants.