Submitted photoWiregrass Camellia Society’s Annual Camellia Show is at Trinity Anglican Church, 325 W. Jackson St., Thomasville. Show times are Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 3 p.m. The public is invited to enter blossoms for competition.

Sponsored by Thomasville Garden Club Inc.

The members of Thomasville Garden Club, Inc. extend their heart-felt sympathy to all who suffered loss during the tornado that hit our area two weeks ago.

February weather

Normally, February’s temperatures range from highs in the 50s or 60s to lows in the 30s or 40s, with rare hard freezes in the single digits and rare highs in the 80s.

Rainfall is usually adequate for our yardens’ needs, without our having to resort to supplemental watering.

Global weather in 2016

NASA and NOAA have determined that 2016 was the hottest year, globally, on record. They measured 6,300 locations around the globe and found that Earth’s surface temperatures in 2016 were the warmest since modern record-keeping began in 1880. 2016 is the third consecutive year that this record has been broken.

Local weather in 2016

I entered “Thomasville, GA” into an interactive database of more than 5,000 cities provided by AccuWeather and learned that our annual mean temperature is 69.3 degrees and that our 2016 temperature was 1.9 degrees above normal. The site explained that “the normal temperature range was determined by using the averages of the highs and lows for each day from 1981 to 2010.”

The site also showed that Thomasville’s total precipitation in 2016 was 38.6 inches, which was 14.7 inches less than normal.

Special February dates

Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 11 and 12 — Wiregrass Camellia Society’s Annual Camellia Show is at Trinity Anglican Church, 325 W. Jackson St., Thomasville. Show times are Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 3 p.m. The public is invited to enter blossoms for competition. Thomasville heritage camellias are sought and will be featured. All blossoms may be entered from 7 to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday; be sure to be present early in order to enter before the 9:30 deadline.

Waxing of blooms will be available; waxed camellias may be taken home. Camellia plants will be available for purchase. The show is sanctioned by the American Camellia Society. Admission is free; donations are appreciated. Last year’s show had more than 1,300 camellia blossoms. Attend and enjoy the beauty of these “wonders of winter.” For more information, contact Annelle Lauder at 226-7398,

Friday, Feb. 17 is Arbor Day in Georgia. The first Georgia Arbor Day was celebrated in December 1890. In 1941, the Georgia General Assembly selected the third Friday in February as our annual State Arbor Day. The National Arbor Day is the third Friday in April but it is too warm in Georgia at that time of year to plant trees. Here, trees need to be planted between November and mid-March in order to become established before the arrival of our sultry summers.

Trees help the environment in so many ways: they help to clean the air and water, provide homes for wildlife, conserve energy and prevent soil erosion and they beautify our home and community landscapes, to name a few. Here is a fascinating, final fact: Researchers from Columbia University found childhood asthma rates were highest in parts of a city where tree density was lowest.

Plant trees. It is a wonderful tradition for families to begin this Arbor Day.

Thomasville Garden Club Inc. follows its own advice by planting a tree in a public place in our community during a program, free and open to everyone, each Arbor Day. Be on the lookout for information in the newspaper regarding this year’s presentation.

In bloom

There are an amazing number of plants in bloom at this time of year, when much of the rest of the country is bleak and frozen. Enjoy our gorgeous Japonica camellias; Lenten roses — an evergreen groundcover with year-round interest; Taiwan cherry trees — show-stopping bright pink flowers on naked branches; Japanese magnolias or saucer magnolias — magnificent, large, white, pink or purple flowers on leafless branches; forsythia — a fast-growing, hardy shrub with profuse yellow blooms covering graceful, arching branches. I saw a native azalea in flower on my walk this week. I think they normally bloom a month later but this has been a very mild winter. I hope you will help me be on the lookout this month for more of these lovely flowers.

February Planting

Not only are flowers blooming in south Georgia but we can also start planting for spring this month.

Petunias planted in late February will provide wonderful color in March.

The key to outstanding beds of spring-flowering bedding plants is early planting — and right now is a good time to do it. Cool-season bedding plants planted in February still have time to make healthy, hearty plants that will provide an outstanding display in late March, April and early May.

Plant or transplant frost-tolerant perennials.

Plant fruit trees; ornamental grasses; bare-root roses, trees, shrubs, vines and perennial vegetables; seedlings of cool-season vegetables.

Sow seeds for cool-season vegetables, such as beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, collards, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, onions, English peas, Irish potatoes, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips. If planted around the first week of February, they should be ready to harvest around early April or May, depending on the variety. Cool-season vegetables grow quite fast and their seeds can be planted directly into the soil. You do not need to purchase plants at this time of year; soil moisture and weather conditions are usually excellent for seed germination. Many leafy greens can even be grown in containers due to their smaller size.

February quote

He who plants trees loves others besides himself.

— Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian, 1608-1661

Pat Pankey writes this column for Thomasville Garden Club Inc. as a service to the community. Thomasville Garden Club Inc. welcomes new members. If you are interested, contact Membership Chair Karen Wilks at 226-0312 or any current member. The Garden Center has a library of books about gardening which are available not only to garden club members but to the general public. To access the library or to visit the Garden Center, please contact Julia Singletary at 226-5291 (the Garden Center telephone number) or any current member. You may contact Carla Inman at (229) 403-6048 if you are interested in renting the Garden Center for an event. The Garden Center is always open to the public on the Wednesday before the first Friday of every month, September through May. Please visit our website at  www.thomasvillegardenclub.org and find us on Facebook.