The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is a 14-acre park and the nation's largest rose garden. There are over 38,000 rose bushes of at least 500 different varieties, from tall grafted rose trees to miniature roses no larger than a dime. The Garden was an All American Rose Selection (AARS) test garden where the newest varieties were evaluated over a two-year period. They are now an A.R.T.S.® trial site.

In the spring of 1999, the IDEA demonstration garden was created by the Smith County Master Gardeners. Funded by a grant from East Texas Council of Governments, this garden is designed to give visitors gardening ideas to take home and use in their own gardens(s). The IDEA Garden features new and under-utilized plants for East Texans, a water-garden and bog area, an area devoted to teaching composting, displays of various mulching materials, groundcover plants for sloping areas, and water-wise landscaping techniques. Signs and handouts interpret the garden and guide the visitors through education-intended displays. On the southern end of the garden is the Vance Burks Memorial Camellia Garden. Here a grove of pine and hardwood trees provide a shaded area ideal for the dozens of large camellias. Nearby, the East Texas Daylily Society maintains several daylily beds with hundreds of labeled daylily varieties. A hosta variety trail was established in 1997 to identify the best hostas for the northeast Texas area.

Trial site manager: Jose T. Parga, Rose Garden Superintendent

Trial site contact: JParga@tylertexas.com

Location of A.R.T.S.® site within property: A.R.T.S.® trials are located in Section A on the North side of the garden

Geographic region for A.R.T.S.® trial data purposes: Cfa - Humid Subtropical Climate (see CLIMATE MAP)