Azaleas near PEAK at Callaway Gardens in Georgia

Callaway Gardens

If you have been wondering when will be the best time to see the azaleas at Callaway Gardens, now is the time!

Located at Pine Mountain, Georgia, the gardens feature some of the most spectacular azalea gardens in the world. This year's blooms may be the most spectacular ever.

Conceived in 1930 by Cason J. Callaway after he and his wife found a rare wild azalea growing on overworked farm land, Callaway Gardens have emerged to become one of the most beautiful gardens anywhere. They cover more than 16,000 acres of rolling mountain terrain at Pine Mountain between Atlanta and Columbus.

A highlight each spring is the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl, a massive azalea garden that explodes with color. The cold wet winter was very good for the azaleas and officials at the gardens say that this may be the best year for azaleas in their more than 80 year history.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/callawaygardens1 or www.callawaygardens.com.  Here is a special video invite from Edward Callaway:

Muskogee Azalea Festival begins but blooms running slow

Muskogee Azalea Festival
Muskogee, Oklahoma

The 2014 Muskogee Azalea Festival is underway in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The annual festival begins on April 1 of each year.

The severe winter, however, is likely to have an impact on the blooms this year. Record-breaking cold and ice in Oklahoma over the winter has stunted the azaleas and slowed the blooming season. Officials with the Muskogee Parks Department report that the buds are just beginning to show and the blooms are running well behind this year.

There are still plenty of reasons to go!  Honor Heights Park is beautiful every spring, even more so with the recent addition of its new Butterfly Papilion & Gardens. Parks officials indicate that the tulips will be especially beautiful this year. Other plants and trees will be in bloom as well and the azaleas will be later this month.

The main day of this year's Azalea Festival will be April 12. The annual parade will step off at 11 a.m. in downtown Muskogee, followed by a day of events at Honor Heights Park.

For more information on the 2014 Muskogee Azalea Festival, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okmuskogeeazalea.

Cold Winter leads to late Azalea Blooms in much of the South

The long, cold winter has had an effect on this year's azalea blooms across much of the South, pushing them back later into spring than normal.

Usually the blooms at places like Honor Heights Park, home of the Muskogee Azalea Festival in Oklahoma, and Callaway Gardens in Georgia would have been in full bloom a week ago, but they are just now beginning to come out. Garden experts indicate that this should mean two things for this year's display. First, the blooms should be quite spectacular over the next week or so. Second, the blooms may not remain at their height as long as normal this year.

As of this weekend, the azalea blooms at Muskogee, where the Azalea Festival will continue until the end of the month, were still emerging but they should be quite beautiful as this week goes along. The case is the same at Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, Georgia. The blooms there were still coming out on Saturday, but should be really pretty by the end of the week.

Elsewhere across the South, you can expect about the same conditions at gardens from about the midpoints of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and north. Along the coastal plain, everything looks really nice. Here in Northwest Florida, the azaleas are just spectacular.

Here are links to some of our garden pages at ExploreSouthernHistory.com:

• Muskogee Azalea Festival - Muskogee, Oklahoma
• Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, Georgia
• Dothan Area Botanical Gardens - Dothan, Alabama
• Eden Gardens State Park - Point Washington, Florida
• Rainbow Springs State Park - Dunnellon, Florida
• Garvan Woodland Gardens - Hot Springs, Arkansas
• Maclay Gardens State Park - Tallahassee, Florida