I don't suppose anything the Arboretum has ever done has created more comment, questions, and opinions than the Azalea Garden development along University Drive. Barb Stump, our Azalea Garden project coordinator, has enhanced the profile of the effort with her tireless enthusiasm for the project. The whole thing has kind of amazed me, really. Most have given me their feelings over the phone. This was after the January flood.
Floods are nothing to scoff at, however.
It's a part of the risk. Our experience is if a plant can make it for six months or a year without a flood, that plant will more than likely stay in place. That's what happened January 28th. With 2500 azaleas in the ground, that deluge took 250 plants south to Lufkin. All the bark mulch was swept away.