McCrory Gardens and the South Dakota Arboretum form a 70-acre botanical garden and arboretum at South Dakota State University in Brookings, combining formal display gardens with a larger arboretum used for horticultural education and research. Named for Professor S. A. McCrory, who led the university’s horticulture department from 1947 to 1964, the site serves both public and academic purposes. Its collections include hundreds of flowers, trees, shrubs, and grasses, with special emphasis on woody plants suited to South Dakota’s climate. Research there continues a long regional program of testing, introducing, cultivating, and arranging native and domesticated plants.