THOMASVILLE- This is a precious and fleeting time of year in South Georgia, late winter, early spring. Georgia’s local native azalea Rhododendron canescens is flowering.  For just a few weeks their pink and white blooms light up low places in the silvery grey woods right before everything leafs out and turns green. 

There are 13 varieties of Wild Azalea native to different regions in Georgia, but they are disappearing fast and many are now rarely seen in the wild. The state is lucky to have had several hard-working, forward-thinking plantsmen who scoured the swamps in the 1960’s ahead of the bulldozers and rescued many of these azaleas before they were completely eradicated by the sprawl of development and factory farming. Residents thank them for saving these special plants and making them available for everyone to plant back in the woods or in gardens. 

One of these remarkable men was Aaron Varnadoe, born into a family of sharecroppers in 1920 near Sylvester, Georgia. At age 13 he had to drop out of school to work on the farm. Somehow, he found the time to notice and appreciate the native azaleas he saw blooming in low places in the woods, and to educate himself, he began reading the books he saved from his seventh grade class. After an accident in 1959 ended his farming career, with the help of Rehabilitation Services of Georgia, he started a small nursery in Colquitt, propagating and selling native azaleas. His keen interest in plants and the horticultural skills he had gained on the farm served him well. His nursery thrived and was soon discovered by Dr. Fred Galle of Callaway Gardens and Paul Hjort of Thomasville Nursery, who promoted and sold his plants.  Varnadoe grew thousands of azaleas from seed and he had a remarkable talent at rooting stem cuttings. He created dozens of named cultivars of Wild Azaleas by crossing and recrossing three native varieties, R. canescens, R. austrinum, and R. flammeum.  He became known among azalea enthusiasts as “The Dean of Wild Azaleas.”  

Birdsong Nature Center will be selling many varieties of Wild Azaleas at its plant sales on March 15 and March 29, from 9:00 a.m.— 1:00 p.m. For sale will be the local R. canescens, the gold and yellow R. austrinum, as well as many named cultivars and hybrids, including Varnadoe’s gorgeous “Phlox Pink.”  

There will also be many native shrubs, trees, and perennials available, as well as pollinator plants and other good, old-timey non-native plants.

There will be free admission all day and a $5-off membership special.

The Trails and Gift Shop will be open!

For more information, please contact birdsong@birdsongnaturecenter.org or 229-277-4408.