John Gentry, 79, has tended to a thousand pink and red camellia plants for about 15 years in his corner of the University of Georgia (UGA) Botanical Gardens in Georgetown, just south of Savannah.
This winter, however, has been drier than usual. The camellias have received less than half of the 23-year average rainfall in the past couple months. So he has had to lug cartons of water to some of the plants himself.
Since mid-August, the entirety of Georgia has been in a drought, said UGA Agricultural Climatologist Pam Knox, who also directs the university’s 86-station weather network. Most of the state has reached severe or extreme drought levels, with short and long-term impacts that will extend past six months. For Savannah, the drought began a bit later in November, after the onslaught of near-record August rains…