Will azaleas be in bloom during Masters Week?

Color or no color?

With less than two weeks before the Masters Tournament, it remains unclear whether Augusta’s azaleas will be in bloom for the tournament from April 3-9.

“It’s really hard to say,” said Milledge Peterson, of Bedford Greenhouses in Augusta. “To say the least, we had an unusual winter.”

On Tuesday, Augusta set a record-high temperature of 91 degrees for March 21 – a mark that was previously set in 1948.

That, however, was only the latest example. From December through February, this was the second warmest winter on record, with exactly half of the 90 days having temperatures of 70 degrees or above, according to Georgia climatologist Bill Murphey.

In Augusta, many of the azaleas, dogwoods and fruit trees began blooming two to three weeks ahead of time. With blooms arriving so early, azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club could lose the majority of their color by Masters Week.

“What you see around town is similar to what’s happening inside Augusta National,” Peterson said. “If there’s color around town, there’s probably color (on the course).”

Following last week’s cold front, many local azaleas and fruit crops sustained damage with exposure to the below-freezing temperatures.

According to Gerald Stephens, an owner at Nurseries Caroliniana in North Augusta, about 90 percent of his azaleas were lost during the freeze.

“Our azaleas had already started to peak when the cold hit,” Stephens said. “You know, they (bloomed) three weeks early to begin with, and when you combine that with the freeze, that’s not a good situation. We had temperatures as low as 20 degrees.”

Campbell Vaughn, a county extension agent in Augusta, agreed with Stephens. According to Vaughn, the latest cold front took out between 80 to 90 percent of azaleas in Richmond County.

“When it’s all said and done, I don’t believe there will be much color left for Masters Week,” Vaughn said. “The freeze beat them up bad – really bad. But on the bright side, our dogwoods look absolutely spectacular right now.”

According to Peterson, most “open azaleas” may have been lost in the freeze, but dogwood trees seemed to take the weather in stride.

The National Weather Service says temperatures are supposed to remain above average next week, with highs in the low 80s from Sunday through Wednesday.