By: Clardy, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Nichols) H.C.R. No. 24
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 3, 2013;
April 4, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
Administration; April 15, 2013, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; April 15, 2013, sent to printer.)
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Lone Star State is renowned for the beauty and
diversity of its many public gardens and parks, and for the
dedication of Texans in preserving and sustaining these oases of
greenery; and
WHEREAS, While outstanding gardens can be found in many
communities throughout the state, the city of Nacogdoches is
deserving of particular recognition for the number and variety of
its green and flowering public spaces; and
WHEREAS, Nacogdoches is located on the site of a village once
occupied by the Nacogdoche Indians, a group of the Caddo people,
whose culture was based on farming and gardening; a Spanish mission
was established there in 1716 and continued in existence for the
better part of six and a half decades; the town has been a civil
settlement since 1779, and its situation at the crossroads of two
Spanish colonial highways, El Camino Real and El Calle del Norte,
made it an early center of multicultural exchange; as early as 1853,
the city's gardens were noted in the diary of a famous visitor,
Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New
York's Central Park; and
WHEREAS, Today, Nacogdoches helps to preserve the state's
horticultural heritage through re-creations of traditional gardens
at the Durst-Taylor Historic House and Gardens, the Sterne-Hoya
House Museum and Library, Millard's Crossing Historic Village, the
Old University Building, and the Spanish Religious Plaza; and
WHEREAS, The city's splendid green spaces also include
Eugenia Sterne Park, Margil Park, along the Lanana Creek Trail, the
Zion Hill Baptist Church and Oak Grove Cemeteries, and the Pocket
Park and the Plaza Principal in the historic downtown; the Liberty
Memorial Garden, along Banita Creek, commemorates with dignity and
grace the lives lost during the tragic events of 9/11; and
WHEREAS, Nacogdoches is home to Stephen F. Austin State
University, which is landscaped with overstory and ornamental trees
to maintain the Pineywoods ecosystem and natural beauty of the
campus; the university's 128 acres of gardens include the SFA Mast
Arboretum, the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, the Gayla Mize
Garden, the Jim and Beth Kingham Children's Garden, the Sustainable
Community Education Garden, and the Crape Myrtle Garden, which
together feature the largest botanical collection in Texas of bald
cypress, boxwood, camellias, gardenias, hollies, hydrangeas,
magnolias, and maples; each year, the SFA Gardens hosts programs
that educate 17,000 people in sustainable gardening and the
preservation of native plants, while the Nacogdoches Independent
School District supports initiatives that encourage its students to
grow and study gardens on their school grounds; and
WHEREAS, Home of the annual 22-mile Nacogdoches Azalea Trail
each March, the community was named the first Azalea City of America
by the Azalea Society of America in 2004 and was recertified in
2012; the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden on the SFA campus is the
largest such garden in the state, with more than 520 species and
cultivars on display; the Master Gardeners Club Demonstration
Garden, on the former site of Aqua Vitae Park, was developed by the
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service on behalf of the city and
Nacogdoches County; and
WHEREAS, The thoughtful cultivation of the splendor of nature
is one of the most sublime expressions of the human spirit, and the
skill and devotion with which the city of Nacogdoches has for many
years showcased its lovely trees and flowering plants is indeed
deserving of special recognition; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby designate Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of
Texas.
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