TITLE: Designating Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of Texas.

SUMMARY: Designating Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of Texas.

FULL TEXT:
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. Clardy Ashby Bell Bonnen of Galveston Button Canales Capriglione Collier Cortez Frank M. Gonzalez of El Paso N. Gonzalez of El Paso Guerra Kacal King of Hemphill Krause Lavender Leach Longoria Miller of Fort Bend Nevarez Paddie Perez Raney Ratliff Rose Sanford Schaefer Sheffield of Coryell Simmons Simpson Springer Stephenson Stickland Thompson of Brazoria Toth Villalba Wu President of the Senate Speaker of the House I certify that H.C.R. No. 24 was adopted by the House on April 3, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting. Chief Clerk of the House I certify that H.C.R. No. 24 was adopted by the Senate on April 18, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: Date Governor