Arboretum News - SFA Gardens - Stephen F. Austin State University

Learning 

Excursions 

Les Reeves Lecture Series 

Usually held on the third Thursday of every month at 

7:00 p.m. in Room 110 of the Agriculture Building 

located on Wilson Drive on the Stephen F. Austin 

State University campus. Free plant raffle following 

the lecture. The Les Reeves Lecture Series is made 

possible through the Les Reeves Memorial Fund. 

Sponsors include King’s Nursery, Haden Edwards 

Inn, Llano Grande Plantation, and the SFA Mast 

Arboretum Volunteers. 

2003 

November 20: Maarten Van der Giessen, Van der 

Giessen’s Nursery, Mobile, AL, “Boutique Azalea 

Hybrids for the South.” 

December 18: David Creech, SFA Mast Arboretum 

Director, “Twenty Plants You Shouldn’t Live 

Without.” 

2004 

January 15: Greg Grant, Arcadia plantsman, “My 

Plants are the Laughing Stock: Humor in the 

Garden.” 

February 19: Jill Nokes, landscape designer and 

authoress, Austin, TX, “Natives That Work for 

You!” 

March (Date to be announced): Todd Laseigne, JC 

Raulston Arboretum, North Carolina, “Plants and 

PhDs: Do They Really Make Sense?” 

April 15: Brent Marable, Tree Introductions, 

Georgia, “You’re Gonna Pay for a Clonal Oak 

Whether You Buy One or Not!” 

May 20: Jimmy Turner, Dallas Arboretum, “Behind 

the Scenes at Dallas Blooms.” 

June 17: Keith Hansen, Tyler Extension 

Horticulturist, “The Idea Garden Comes of Age.” 

July 15: George Hull, Mountain States Nursery, 

Phoenix, AZ, “Report From Hell: You Know, There 

Really Is a Point to Agaves in the Landscape.” 

August 19: Aubrey King, King’s Nursery, Teneha, 

TX, “Don’t Tell Me to Get Out of My Rut—I Like It 

Here!” 

September 16: Dawn Parish, SFA Mast Arboretum, 

“Ginger and Spice and Other Things Nice.” 

October 21: Ted Stephens, Nursery Caroliniana, 

South Carolina, “Wow! Have You Seen That 

Weeping, Contorted, Variegated, Red-Flowered 

Grancy Gray Beard Run By Here?” 

November 18: Jim Berry, PDSI, Alabama, 

“Tomorrow’s Plants Today.” 

December 16: Dave Creech, SFA Mast Arboretum, 

“End of the Year Review.” 

Garden Seminars 

To register, contact Elyce at 936-468-1832 or by 

email erodewald@sfasu.edu 

November 1, 2003: Raised Dead Gardening with 

Greg Grant. Yes, he’s BACK! On his birthday, Greg 

will talk about growing and decorating with 

traditional plants and flowers both at home and in the 

cemetery. He will discuss the customs associated 

with All Hallows’ Eve and Halloween (October 31), 

All Saint’s Day (November 1) and All Soul’s 

Day/Day of the Dead (November 2). In addition to 

information on sacrificial burning of plastic flowers, 

Greg will detail the ups and downs of growing REAL 

plants in the cemetery (must everything in there be 

dead?). Learn about tough cemetery plants that are 

knock-outs in residential, school, and business 

landscapes. This seminar is one to die for. Raised 

Dead Gardening will be held in Room 110 of the 

Agriculture Building from 9 a.m.-Noon. $15.00 

February 28, 2004: East Texas Jonquil Jubilee 

Tour with Greg Grant. We will return to Arcadia, 

TX for another popular garden tour—this time to 

relish in the magnificent display of our 

different naturalized Narcissus. Before the 

tour, Greg will present a lecture on identifying 

and growing the best spring bulbs for East Texas. 

Afterwards Greg will show us his little heirloom 

bulb farm and take us on a tour of his garden. 

Meet at the Agriculture Building on Wilson Drive. 

Transportation provided. Be prepared for late winter 

weather. Tours offered from 9 a.m.-Noon and from 

1:30-4:30 p.m. $20.00. 

Mark your Calendars! 

April 17, 2004—Garden Gala 

October 5, 2004—Fabulous Fall 

Festival 

If you haven’t visited the Arboretum recently, make 

a point to stop by in the next week before the weather 

turns chilly. There is a new plant growing in the 

Daylily Garden’s water feature that you won’t want 

to miss! The monstrous beauty growing there is the 

giant Longwood Hybrid Victoria Lily. Victoria 

water lilies with their 5’-8’ diameter leaves are native 

to the Amazon River system of South America where 

they are known as “Yrupe.” “Y” meaning water, and 

“rupe” meaning big tray. The Victoria ‘Longwood 

Hybrid’ is a cross between Victoria amazonica and 

Victoria cruziana. The underside of the large leaves 

and stems of the Victorias are covered with spines, 

presumably to protect the plant from predation. 

In the native habitat, the night-blooming Victoria 

lilies are pollinated by a beetle. This presents a 

challenge to gardeners in other parts of the world 

who wish to propagate the lily. Nathan Unclebach, 

SFA horticulture student and lily caretaker, explains 

that the anthers from a flower blooming on the 

second night must be collected and saved to pollinate 

a flower that opens for the first time. Flowers 

blooming on the first night are white, while second 

and third-night blooming flowers change to a deeper 

purple. Culture becomes even more complicated 

after pollination occurs. Seeds must be collected, 

scarified, and kept in fresh water in an aquarium at a 

constant temperature. Seeds can take from three 

weeks to three months to germinate and germination 

rates vary widely. The young plants that sprout in 

the aquarium are gradually put into larger containers 

until they are ready for the outdoor water garden 

SFA Mast 

Arboretum News 

Fall 2003 

P.O. Box 13000-SFA Station, Nacogdoches, TX 75962-3000 

Phone: 936-468-3705 FAX: 936-468-4047 www.sfasu.edu/ag/arboretum/ 

Monstrous Beauties New to the Daylily Garden 

in 40-200 gallon plastic buckets. Victoria lilies are 

annuals and prefer to grow in water above 70 °F. 

When asked his thoughts on the Victorias, Nathan 

responded, “They’re monsters, but their fragrance is 

amazing. When you smell the lily, you just can’t get 

enough of the incredible fragrance.” If you would 

like to catch the heavenly scent, try visiting the 

garden around 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. (By the way, 

Nathan took a lead role in renovating the water 

feature in the Daylily Garden, and he is still 

searching for the perfect, sophisticated sculpture to 

complement the water feature. No gnomes, please!) 

The Victoria lilies were donated to the Arboretum by 

John Cash, owner of Exotic Plant Nursery in 

Shreveport, Louisiana. Mr. Cash specializes in 

aquatic plants. 

The Victoria lilies share the water garden with two 

hardy water lilies and a distant tropical cousin from 

China, the thorned waterlily, Euryale ferox.

Fern Garden Stumpery 

By Roger Hughes 

In the early eighteen hundreds in England where 

rocks were scarce, stumps were used in gardens in 

place of rocks. These were called “Stumperies.” 

Stumps were dug in the forest and planted up sidedown 

in the gardens. The type, size and shape of the 

stumps were considered in the design to create 

texture, structure and dimension. 

When the Prince of Wales purchased Highgrave 

about twenty-five years ago he incorporated a 

Stumpery in his garden. He requested that it be 

planted with ferns, hellebores and hostas. The tall 

plants were placed around the larger stumps and 

allowed to grow up through the roots. 

In a woodland garden this creates a beautiful 

backdrop when the fern fronds intermingle with the 

various shades of brown and the rough shape of the 

roots. With this in mind we decided to build a 

stumpery in the fern garden at the Ruby M. Mize 

Azalea Garden. 

The new stumpery in the Azalea Garden is on 

schedule. The water system and sprinkling heads 

have been tested and are ready to go. All of the dirt 

work and setting the stumps in place is completed. A 

six-inch layer of mulch has been added and worked 

into the top layer of soil. 

All of the two hundred and fifty plants now planted 

in the Stumpery have been donated. Some of the 

plants came from as far away as Birmingham, 

Alabama. These were donated by Sarah & Ralph 

Johnson. Both Sarah and Ralph are very active 

volunteers at the Birmingham Botanical Garden. 

Besides volunteering, they enjoy growing ferns from 

spores. Another very nice donation came from Mary 

Elliott in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Mary is the owner 

and operator of Fronderosa, which sells wholesale 

landscape ferns and plants for the gulf south. She 

has a large collection of ferns plus a big variety of 

shade loving plants. Roger and Shirley Hughes 

donated the balance of the plants. The following is a 

list of the plants that have been planted: 

Acer japonicum ‘Giant Leaf’ 

Adiantum capillus-veneris 

Adiantum hispidulum 

Adiantum raddianum ‘Fragrans’ 

Adiantum tenerum ‘Scutum Rose’ 

Amorphophallus 

Amorphophallus 

Arisaema triphyllum 

Cyrtomium falcatum 

Dryopteris erythrosora 

Dryopteris kuratae 

Dryopteris ludoviciana 

Dryopteris namegatae 

Dryopteris stewartii 

Dryopteris X australis 

Galium odoratum 

Hosta ‘Blue Angle’ 

Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ 

Hosta ‘So Sweet’ 

Onoclea sensibilis 

Onychium japonicum 

Osmunda cinnamomea 

Osmunda regalis 

Pellaea 

Pinellea cordata 

Pinellea pedatisecta 

Pinellea tripartite 

Polystichum polyblepharum 

Pteris actinopteroides 

Pteris cretica ‘Mayii’ 

Pteris cretica ‘Rowerii’ 

Pteris ensiformis ‘Evergemiensis’ 

Pteris vittata 

Saxifraga stolonifera 

Selaginella ‘Wordoff’ 

We are working on creating more shade for the south 

edge of the Stumpery. We want to reduce the hot 

midday sun. Moving a few plants and planting two 

fast-growing trees should solve this problem. 

The Hardy Fern Foundation Satellite Garden is doing 

very well in its new location. The 2003 shipment of 

ferns from the HFF will be shipped October 13. 

We will be changing our signage in both the HFF 

Satellite Garden and the Stumpery, so we will be 

consistent with the Azalea Garden. 

Fall Fandango 

Picture perfect weather and a full moon graced the 

first Fall Fandango honoring 2003 Friends of the 

Arboretum members. This elegant evening of 

delicious food, heavenly jazz, and extraordinary 

company was created by a host of volunteers guided 

by Carol Moore. Special thanks to Josie Crowson, 

Sherrie Randall, Gayla Mize, Mary Louise Jobe, Bill 

Jobe, Heinz Gaylord, Rachel Emrick, and, of course 

Carol Moore! 

Win Day Honeybee 

Observation Hive Dedicated 

On August 21, 2003, the honeybee observation hive 

located in the Mast Arboretum was named in 

memory of Winthrop “Win” Day. Mr. Day was 

instrumental in bringing the hive to SFA. He worked 

patiently and enthusiastically with SFA 

administrators, contributors from Eastman Chemical 

in Longview, and the East Texas Beekeepers to 

ensure that the hive would become a reality. Since 

the hive’s construction, thousands of children and 

adults have been introduced “up close and personal” 

to honeybees, their importance as pollinators, and 

their fascinating biology and behavior. Over 85 

friends, beekeeping colleagues, Arboretum 

volunteers, and family members attended the 

dedication, including his wife, Alberta; daughter, 

Cynthia Bird; granddaughter, Molly Bird; and greatgranddaughter, 

Cheyenne Watson. Marcie Nelson 

presented a plaque to Dr. David Creech with a 

photograph of Win in his beekeeper’s suit and the 

inscription: In Memory of Winthrop “Win” Day 

beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather, and Friend 

dedicated to the art of apiary education for children 

and adults and the love and appreciation of bees. His 

gentle spirit and kindness will be remembered. 

Win Day shared his time 

and enthusiasm for bees 

and beekeeping freely with 

staff, students, volunteers, 

and thousands of school 

children who visited the 

SFA Mast Arboretum. 

SFA Completes Universally 

Accessible Trail 

Thousands of azalea blooms, Japanese maples, and 

other spring ornamentals attract hundreds of visitors 

each spring to the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden. 

Garden officials are hoping that that recently 

improved trails will attract even more visitors. 

The trails now meet Americans with Disability Act 

standards through a joint effort by SFA Disability 

Services, the Physical Plant, and the SFA Mast 

Arboretum to pave a 5-foot-wide path of asphalt 

along the entire 1.25 mile trail network. 

In addition to making navigation of the trails easier 

for visitors with physical challenges, the garden is 

more user-friendly for bikers, joggers, walkers, and 

families with children in strollers. 

“What I like about this project is that it is a vast 

improvement for everybody, not just those with 

special needs,” said Michael Stevenson, chairman of 

the Nacogdoches Mayor’s Committee for People 

with Disabilities. 

A new parking area located at the west side of the 

garden is marked for handicapped parking and 

unloading. One-way access to this parking area is by 

way of the road down the middle of the garden, 

named “Axes Promenade.” 

“Now the garden is ready for all visitors,” said Dr. 

David Creech, Mast Arboretum director, “just in time 

for camellia season which begins in October!” 

Special thanks to our 2003 

Fall Fandango Sponsors! 

Doremus Nursery, Warren 

Earth and Stone, Lufkin 

David Kolb Excavating, Nacogdoches 

Trees USA, Lindale 

East Texas Pinestraw, Lufkin

Arboretum News - SFA Gardens - Stephen F. Austin State University

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