Manning Council of Garden Clubs replants courthouse Camellias

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Despite cold winter weather, and perhaps because of a rainy December and January, two Professor Sargent camellias replanted in front of the Clarendon County Courthouse through the efforts of the Manning Council of Garden Clubs and Custom Landscaping of Manning are currently thriving, according to President Kathy Cramer. The flowers were removed from their previous location directly aside the courthouse after planned renovations began last year. Marie Land of the Camellia Garden Club said the trees were planted in that location after Hurricane Hugo from roots from trees planted on the courthouse grounds in the 1940s by Betty Johnson. Johnson said she took cuttings from those plants, because she always thought they were so beautiful and “I didn’t want to have such beauty lost after Hugo.” Garden Club of South Carolina President Judith Dill talked about her Historic Trees for Historic Places project, under which Land said the local council undertook the Camellia project. She challenged local garden club members to find five more historical trees in their neighborhoods and submit them to the state council in the next year.