Ruby Mize Azalea Garden
azal koromo shikibu

 Rhododendron X 'Koromo Shikibu'

The Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is an eight-acre public garden, built between 1997 and 2001 as a project of Stephen F. Austin State University and the SFA Mast Arboretum. It is also an example of public/private cooperation to develop a garden for future generations. Private donors, the City of Nacogdoches, area nurserymen, volunteers, and the Azalea Society of America also joined in the effort to make the garden you see today. Each year the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is featured during Nacogdoches Azalea Trail events and tours each March and April.

The garden design was a joint effort of Dr. David Creech and faculty members of SFA Horticulture and Barbara Stump (M.S. Agriculture, SFA, 2001).

Situated in a 50-year-old Loblolly Pine forest, the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is a delightful and restful azalea garden, which showcases collections of other new plants being introduced by growers in Texas and across the South. The sandy loam soil of the LaNana Creek floodplain makes this a prime location for display gardens of plants that thrive in acid soils:

  • 6,500 Azaleas—both hybrid evergreen and native deciduous
  • 200 Camellias, including 21 bred and selected by 1930s SFASU Agriculture graduate, Hody Wilson
  • 200 varieties of Japanese maples
  • 180 varieties of Hydrangea
  • 400 rare ornamental trees and shrubs

Today, the garden contains over 8,600 plants representing over 300 taxa, or unique genus and species combinations.

Plant Collections

The garden contains 46 beds, connected by over one mile of trails. Primary plant collections consist of species and cultivars of Azaleas (Rhododendron sp.), Camellias, and Japanese Maples, with many other rare and unique ornamental woody specimens. A key objective is to present color throughout the year, especially by selecting repeat-blooming azalea cultivars that bloom in the summer and fall.

The primary criteria for plant selection were adaptability to acidic soil (pH 5.8-6.5) and USDA Zone 8b and American Horticulture Society Heat Zone 9 climate conditions—over 46 inches of rain annually, seasonal flooding, and a 240-day hot and humid summer growing season. Flower color and cultivar novelty were secondary criteria.

The focal point of the garden is the Council Ring, designed as a meeting place from which to view the whole garden. This is a variation on an idea of Jens Jensen, a landscape designer who worked in the early 1900s.

Azalea Collections

There are over 511 different, named, azalea cultivars in the garden. See over 54 evergreen hybrid groups in the Color Display Beds, and 61 fragrant deciduous species hybrids in the Native Azalea Trail.

The evergreen Girard, Glenn Dale, Kurume, Back Acres, Robin Hill and Southern Indian azalea hybrids fill most of the color beds (Beds 1-24; 34-39). The Chinese Huang and Gartrell’s numbered hybrids are found in Beds 9, 31-32. Most May-blooming Satsuki are found in Beds 4, 17, 32-33. Beds 29-33 trial small evaluation sets of cutting-edge hybrids. Repeat-blooming Encore ™ azaleas are found in Beds 13 and 42.

Camellia Collection

Visit the Camellia Forest Loop to see over 200 cultivars, from the fall-blooming Camellia sasanqua to the winter-blooming C. japonica, as well as rare species from Southeast Asia.

Japanese Maples

Mid-story in height and intensely varied and delicate of foliage, Japanese maples, Acer palmatum, and the Full-Moon Maple, A. japonicum, add spring and fall foliage color and interest in every bed in the garden.

Special Collections

Many unique ornamental woody species add diversity to this garden.

  • 30 cultivars of the Japanese Plum Yew, Cephalotaxus—the only evergreen yew we can grow reliably in climate Zone 8b—are in Bed 23.

  • The Chinese Witch-Hazel, Loropetalum, makes a colorful and hardy purple and white evaluation hedge in Bed 5.
  • Beds 24 and 35 display over 40 specimens of Box, Buxus sempervirens.
  • Over 180 Hydrangea cultivars are planted along the eastern edges of Beds 2, 3, 4, 18 and 19 as well as pink selections in Beds 40-42. Cultivars include the typical Garden Hydrangea, H. macrophylla, and Lacecap, H. paniculata, to the native Oak-Leaf Hydrangea, H. quercifolia, and some very exotic specimens from Southeast Asia and Japan such as H. aspera and H. serrata.
  • Our truly unique ornamental trees range from Styrax japonica ‘Rubrum Pendula’, a pink Japanese Snowbell, the American Smoke Tree, Cotinus obovatus, and Dusty Zenobia, Z. pulverulenta.
  • The yellow Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’, other deciduous magnolias, the Chinese Fringe Tree, Chionanthus retusus, and Michelia maudiae, a tall Chinese banana shrub that began blooming in February this year, give light-flowered contrast throughout the garden.

A detailed list of all hybrid groups, cultivar names, and locations is available upon request at the SFA Mast Arboretum or by visiting our Web site SFASU Mast Arboretum

Visitor Loop Trails. Numbered beds and descriptions are shown on the map. All beds have color displays at different times of the year. Four visitor loops highlight special features of the plant collections.

Color Display Beds: Beds 1-16, 34-39, 45, 46

Native Azalea Trail: Beds 25-28

Azalea Cultivar Evaluations: Beds 4, 17, 29-33

Camellia Forest Loop: Beds 18-24, 40

Tips for Visitors

Location. The garden lies south of SFA's Johnson Coliseum on University Drive and makes a beautiful addition to the east entrance of campus. See brochure for map showing location between University Drive, Starr and College Avenues.

Parking. On weekends, park for free south of the Johnson Coliseum or in the lot at the corner of Starr Avenue and University Drive. Frequent visitors, please check in with the University Police Department on College Avenue for a free visitor's pass.

Hours and Fees. All of the SFA Mast Arboretum gardens are open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year, with no entrance fee.

Photography. Amateur and professional photographers are welcome in the garden. If photographs are to be used in publications, please contact SFA Public Affairs at 936-468-2605.

Restrooms. The nearest public restrooms are located on the west side of LaNana Creek, by the Intramural Fields, or you can visit the restrooms in the SFA Agriculture Building on Wilson Drive.

Tours. For small group tours, call the Education Program Coordinator at 936-468-1832. For guided tours as part of professional tour groups and large tour groups, call the Nacogdoches Convention & Visitors Bureau (1-888-OLDEST TOWN or www.visitnacogdoches.org).

Lodging.  For information about hotel accommodations visit http://www.visitnacogdoches.org/Lodging.htm

Garden Development. To help support ongoing garden development, or to join the Arboretum Volunteers, write, call, or fax: Dr. David Creech, SFA Mast Arboretum Director, P.O. Box 13000-SFA Station

Nacogdoches, Texas 75962, (936-468-4343, fax: 936-468-4047).    

For further information contact Barbara Stump, Azalea Garden Project Coordinator.   bstump@sfasu.edu or bsstump@sbcglobal.net


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Last Revised 05/02/07