Visit and Events

SFA Gardens

SFA Gardens Admission and Hours 

Our beautiful gardens are free and open to visitors daily, from dawn to dusk. For details of each garden, see the Facilities and Resources section on our homepage.

As SFA Gardens are on the SFA campus, guests are encouraged to visit SFA's Parking and Traffic Office to obtain a free visitor’s parking pass. 

There are small parking lots for visitors at Ruby Mize and Gayla Mize Gardens. You can access the Mast Arboretum and Kingham Children’s Garden from the Ruby Mize Garden lot by crossing the bridge over Lanana Creek. Access to SFA Recreational Trails can be found in Gayla Mize. The Pineywoods Native Plant Center (PNPC) has a visitor parking lot as well, and you can access Hinds Park from the PNPC’s Tucker Woods trails. SFA Maps with details can be found here and here.

Community events are always in bloom

SFA Gardens offers a wide variety of outreach and education events throughout the year, from our popular native plant sales to our guest lecture series and special events. Visit the SFA Gardens Calendar to see upcoming events. Check out some of our most popular offerings below:

2024 Garden Events

Wild About Woody Ornamentals - December 6, 2024

SFA Gardens will host the annual Wild About Woody Ornamentals event at 9 a.m. Dec. 6 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches.

The event is to acquaint nursery professionals, landscapers and enthusiastic gardeners with an in-depth look at the woody ornamental collections at SFA Gardens, particularly new woody ornamentals for Texas and Louisiana. The garden is home to a vast collection of conifers, oaks, pines, taxodium, lagerstroemia, azaleas, camellias and much more.

“The last three years of crazy climatic events has seen record hard freezes, the third worst summer Japanese maplesheat and drought ever and a flood of epic proportions,” said Dr. David Creech, director of SFA Gardens. “This is the perfect time to see what died, what survived and what thrived.”

Speakers will include Dr. Andrew King, a fourth-generation owner of the oldest nursery in Texas, Dr. Tim Hartman, Texas Agrilife Extension specialist who will discuss fruit varieties, and Creech, who has been sorting through plant materials for most of his career.

Event sign-in will take place from 8:30 to 9 a.m., lectures to follow. A minibus will carry participants to tour the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, the fruit research plots, crape myrtle collection, the Lanana Creek Taxodium collection, the Mast Arboretum, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden and the Gayla Mize Garden.  

Parking is available at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center and at the Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center on Raguet Street.

The event is $30 and open to all ages. Registration is required.  

For more information, call 936.468.4404 or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.

Deck the Halls – Saturday, December 7, 2024

mother and daughter with wreaths

Join SFA Gardens to create elegant holiday decorations using materials from nature under the guidance of Dawn Stover. Two sessions will be available. The morning session will be from 9 a.m. to noon, and the afternoon session will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Each session is limited to 16 people. Cost is $30 for SFA Gardens members and $40 for nonmembers. Registration opens on Nov. 20, check back here for a registration link.

Plant Sales - fall and spring

Hard-to-find, Texas-tough plants grown by staff and volunteers. Proceeds from plant sales support SFA Gardens staffing and operations. Both sales run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches. Parking will be available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center. 

2024
Fall

2025
Spring

  • Garden Gala Day
    April 5, 2025
    9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Azalea Gardens Seasonal Guided Tours

Our Ruby Mize Azalea Garden tour season is mid-March through mid-April (timing of blooms, weather conditions and tour availability permitting). Guided tours are available to groups of ten or more and must be reserved with a one-week advance notice. Tours are $5 per person.

To check availability: Email sfagardens@sfasu.edu with the date, the number of people in the group and if you would like a morning or afternoon tour.

Lunch Bunch

The Lunch Bunch is a monthly social for garden-minded individuals where a variety of themed topics are presented. Bring your own lunch. Each event is noon to 1 p.m. at the Brundrett Conservation Education Building, located at 2900 Raguet St. 

  • Aug. 21, 2024 - Introduction and welcome back
  • Sept. 18, 2024 - Plant sale preview 
  • Oct. 16, 2024 - Saving for spring with cuttings
  • Nov. 20, 2024 - Leaves for the garden
  • Dec. 28, 2024 - Winter collaborations
  • Jan. 15, 2025 - Lunch Bunch with Dr. David Creech
  • Feb. 19, 2025 - Tool maintenance with the SFA Gardens team
  • March 19, 2025 - Plant sale preview, a trip to the greenhouse - Jordan Cunningham, SFA Gardens greenhouse technician
  • April 16, 2025 - Identifying our favorite pollinators
  • May 21, 2025 - Landscape tour at the Gayla Mize Garden
  • June - Summer break
  • July - Summer break
  • Aug. 20, 2025 - Introduction and welcome back
  • Sept. 17, 2025 - Plant sale preview
  • Oct. 15, 2025 - Saving for spring with seeds
  • Nov. 19, 2025 - The power of mulch
  • Dec. 17, 2025 - Preparing the winter garden

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series

The SFA Gardens Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St. The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. and is followed by a plant raffle.
 

  • Nov. 14, 2024 - “Eleven Gardens in Ten Days-an England Adventure"
    Dr. Jim Robbins, retired University of Arkansas Extension Specialist
     
  • Dec. 12, 2024 - “Plants, Plans and People:  Why SFA Gardens Is Destined to Flourish, But Only If the World Doesn’t End”
    Dr. David Creech, SFA Gardens Director
     
  • Jan. 9, 2025 - “The Monarch Migration: Its Rise and Fall”
    Monika Maeckle, San Antonio 
     
  • Feb. 13, 2025 -  “Beauty and the Bees: Understanding Pollinators and Designing Landscapes to Support Them”
    Andrea DeLong-Amaya, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
     
  • March 13, 2025 -  “Plant Sale Preview: Plant and Plan for Success” 
    Jordan Cunningham, SFA Gardens Technician
     
  • April 10, 2025 -  “Building a Garden for the Gulf South - An Insider's Perspective"
    Brent Moon, Houston Botanic Garden
     
  • May 8, 2025 - “Snake Woman's Garden”
    Kim Benton, Cherokee County - Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service
     
  • June 12, 2025 - “The Basics of Designing Great Borders”
    Bob Byers, Fort Worth Botanic Garden Director
     
  • July 10, 2025 - “Growing Citrus Successfully in Containers and Cool Climates”
    Anna Timmerman, Louisiana State University
     
  • Aug. 7, 2025 -  "Bellingrath Gardens and Home: Past to Future"
    Todd Lasseigne, Bellingrath Gardens, Theodore, AL
     
  • Sept. 11, 2025 - “Alternative Fruits for the Home Fruit Orchard: Low Input, Low Maintenance and Low Spray”
    Tim Hartmann, Texas A&M Agrilife - Texas A&M
     
  • Oct. 9, 2025 -  “Plants are the Answer!” 
    Dawn Stover, former SFA Gardens Research Associate
     
  • Nov. 13, 2025 - “What's Hot and What's Not: Changing Trends in the Southern Landscape” 
    Heidi Sheesley, TreeSearch Farms, Houston
     
  • Dec. 11, 2025 - “SFA Gardens Against the Odds: A Year in the Garden” 
    Dr. David Creech, SFA Gardens Director