I enjoy nature walks, but living close to a city, I don’t have many opportunities to take them. Arboretums can give you a chance to get a taste of nature, without having to take a long drive out of town. On a recent trip in April, we visited the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden in Nacogdoches, Texas. We probably missed the peak spring blooming cycle by a week or two, but there was still lots to see.

One of the unique ornamental trees we saw was the Mexican Dogwood.  Originally from eastern Mexico, it  is a subspecies of our native common flowering dogwood and I’ve read it is quite rare in the United States. Typically, it is only found in botanical gardens and arboreta, so I feel fortunate to have caught it blooming. The tree is covered with these small, white ornamental flowers and is quite beautiful.