NACOGDOCHES, Texas – We could be plant hunters. We could renew our passports, apply for federal papers to bring foreign plants into the United States, ascend Tibetan mountains and slog through South American rain forests to find rare and uncommon plants for our gardens. But why, when there are intrepid plant geeks here in Texas willing to do the work for us?

Plant sales organized by arboreta and other nonprofit organizations stake their reputations on unusual offerings. The hardest we sissified plant hunters have to work is hauling throngs of plants to the car. And that's plenty grueling, in my book.

The Garden Gala Day on April 12 at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches will have "everything from perennials to hard-to-find perennials to impossible-to-find perennials," says Greg Grant, research associate at the Piney Woods Native Plant Center. "Part of the mission at the Mast Arboretum is to introduce new plant material and test new material."

There are three horticulturists responsible for the Mast Arboretum's offerings, and their individual interests contribute to the variety of sale plants.

Photos from SFA Mast Arboretum

Native plant hunter Greg Grant, a horticulturist at Stephen F. Austin State University, grows Canna iridiflora 'Ehemanii' in his cottage garden of heirloom plants. The dark pink-flowered French hybrid (at left, in photo) from the late 1800s is an iris-flowered type that loves sun.

Mr. Grant is passionate about natives and heirlooms. He develops hybrids from them to improve hardiness for the home gardener or to develop additional flower colors. In addition to Mr. Grant, Dr. Dave Creech, longtime director of the arboretum and Native Plant Center, relies on colleagues throughout the world to share plant finds with him. Dawn Stover, a research associate, oversees day-to-day activities of the arboretum and evaluates new color, meaning new annuals and perennials developed for the retail nursery trade.

"Dr. Creech scans the world for new and interesting plant material," says Mr. Grant. "A lot of times we'll have introductions to the world or to this country. That's what Dr. Creech lives for.

"If you had any one of those kinds of people [at an institution] you'd have really cool stuff," he says. "We've got three. For a plant person, it's like going to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. It's pretty darn unusual."

The growing conditions of the Piney Woods are unlike Dallas and most of North Texas in that the soil is acidic sandy loam, not alkaline gummy black clay. Dallas is hotter and usually has less rainfall. However, with a few exceptions, says Mr. Grant, plants at the Mast Arboretum sale will grow in the Dallas area.

'Peter's Purple' bee balm

Mr. Grant says his pet peeve is mail-order plant catalogs that promise a broad hardiness range. "They do global marketing in the plant world," he says. "Heat tolerance means summer in Chicago or coastal California," not Texas, where nights barely cool down, a key issue to hardiness in Texas terms.

Ms. Stover's emphasis for the spring sale focuses on summer color in flower and foliage. "If something is an annual, then it's got to give me a lot of show." Perennials that make the cut, she says, must be Texas tough. "They don't get powdery mildew; they don't suffer in our heat and humidity. We don't have a lot of hands here. They have to be pretty tough to survive our program."

The fall sale inventories more trees and shrubs, since that is the better season to transplant them.Shopping list

Red buckeye

Consider some of SFA's special offerings for your garden. All are perennials, unless otherwise noted:

'Super Nova' brugmansia – Its white blooms are 20-inch-long trumpets; very fragrant

'Fruit Salad' justicia – yellow and pink shrimp plant; annual

Euphorbia cotinifolia –"It looks like a smokebush with dark purple foliage," Dawn Stover says of the annual.

Echinacea –"I'm real big on the new coneflowers," says Ms. Stover. "The new color palette excites me," including fragrant yellow 'Harvest Moon' and orange 'Sundown'.

Aspidistra elatior 'Asahi' –"a beautiful, beautiful cast-iron plant cultivar with a white streak, for shade"

'Summer Beauty' acanthus – "This is the only one that really performs for us year after year," Ms. Stover says. "It will take pretty deep shade. Everybody needs one."

Farfugium – For deep shade; a substitute for hostas

Monarda bartlettii 'Peter's Purple' –"It doesn't get a lick of mildew," Ms. Stover says of this bee balm, "and it stands upright."

'Grandma's Yellow' rose –the study name given an unknown hybrid tea found blooming in dire conditions at a motel in Nacogdoches. The Texas market always has a place for a hardy yellow rose, says Mr. Grant.

'Asahi' aspidistra

Phlox paniculata 'Victoria' –Discovered by Mr. Grant in a San Antonio garden, he originally named it 'Southern Comfort'. "I wanted people to know it was comfortable growing in the South. The liquor people said they were going to sue me, so I changed the name to Victoria."

Canna iridiflora –a French hybrid from the late 1800s, maturing at about 6 feet

Cooperia pedunculata –"Here's something pretty cool that belongs in Dallas, the giant prairie lily," says Mr. Grant. A native of the blackland prairie, it's rarely available.

Acer scutchii –Mexican sugar maple. "We're the only place in the world with these for sale," says Mr. Grant.

Aesculus pavia –Red buckeye, a Texas native, grows as a shrub or small tree. According to folklore, its tubular red blooms coincide with the return of the ruby-throated hummingbird. "If it's not true," says Mr. Grant, "it sounds good anyway."

The April 12 sale will be held on the SFA intramural fields on Wilson Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Look for signs on campus pointing to a large red-and-white tent. Most plants will be $3 to $10. For a complete list of plants, go to arboretum.sfasu.edu and click on events. Make a weekend of it

Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, has plenty of charms for the garden lover, including the azalea gardens at the Mast Arboretum. The countryside outside town, deep in the Piney Woods, is rolling and bucolic.

For lodging, check out the B&Bs at www.visitnacogdoches.org. Greg Grant favors Llano Grande Plantation because its mistress loves plants.

Lunch plans should include that rare commodity, hand-dipped onion rings, at Butcher Boy's Smokehouse, 603 North St.

If you have any room in the vehicle left for plants after shopping the arboretum sale, stop at Naconiche Gardens, 12082 Highway 59 North (936-569-2247), and Kings Nursery, Hwy 84 East in Tenaha (936-248-3811). You'll see at least a few specimens you haven't noticed in Dallas.