By: Shofner H.C.R. No. 37
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 its residents have demonstrated to 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 has
distinguished itself for the number and variety of its green and
flowering public spaces; and
WHEREAS, Nacogdoches is located on a site once occupied by
members of the Nacogdoche tribe, a group of the Caddo people whose
culture was based on farming; a Spanish mission was established
there in 1716, and the town has been a civil settlement since 1779;
as early as 1853, the city's gardens were noted in the diary of a
famous visitor, Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who
later designed New York's Central Park and numerous other iconic
public spaces around the nation; 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, and
the Old Nacogdoches University Building; and
WHEREAS, The city's splendid green spaces also include
Eugenia Sterne Park, Margil Park, Zion Hill Baptist Church
Cemetery, Oak Grove Cemetery, and the Pocket Park and the Plaza
Principal in the historic downtown; moreover, Liberty Memorial
Garden 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 the natural beauty of the
campus; the university's 138 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 Plantery,
and Jimmy Hinds Park; in addition, the Baldcypress Collection and
the Crape Myrtle Collection are renowned for their impressive
display of those species; each year, SFA Gardens hosts programs
that provide information on sustainable gardening and the
preservation of native plants, while the Nacogdoches Independent
School District supports initiatives that encourage students to
maintain and study gardens on the grounds of their schools; and
WHEREAS, Home of the annual Nacogdoches Azalea Trail each
March, the community was the first to be recognized as part of the
Azalea Society of America's Azalea City Program 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 7,000
evergreen and native azaleas on display; another of the city's
notable sites is the Nacogdoches County Master Gardeners
Demonstration Garden on the former site of Aqua Vitae Park, which
was developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in
cooperation with 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 showcased
its lovely trees and flowering plants is indeed deserving of
special recognition; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby designate Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of
Texas; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That, in accordance with the provisions of
Section 391.003(e), Government Code, this designation remain in
effect until the 10th anniversary of the date this resolution is
finally passed by the legislature.