Bill Text: TX HCR24 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Designating Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of Texas.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 28-11)
Status: (Passed) 2013-05-02 - Signed by the Governor [HCR24 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HCR24-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Designating Nacogdoches as the official Garden Capital of Texas.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 28-11)
Status: (Passed) 2013-05-02 - Signed by the Governor [HCR24 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HCR24-Comm_Sub.html
83R2955 JGH-D | ||
By: Clardy, et al. | H.C.R. No. 24 |
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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. |