THOMASVILLE — The Thomasville Garden Club, Inc. is flinging into spring with its Nature’s Wonders Symposium on March 21st, featuring keynote speakers, arts and crafts, a children’s workshop, and a nature-inspired vendor showcase.
The symposium will be centered around local butterflies with an emphasis on what plants to include in the yard and garden in order to attract pollinators.
The day will kick off with the opening of the vendor showcase, which will have 28 nature-inspired goods that are garden, bird, and pollinator-friendly on display for purchase. Additionally, food trucks will be on the ground for shoppers to enjoy an early morning coffee and breakfast treat. General admission for the showcase is $5 and comes with a wristband.
At 9:30 a.m., kids can take part in the children’s workshop, while their parents browse the showcase or hear from the keynote speaker. The children’s workshop will last until 12:30 and includes all the makings of a fun afternoon. Led by Briarcliff Garden Club member Penny Daniels, kids in grades K-5th will partake in a scavenger hunt and create their own art with natural materials. They will also be provided with snacks and a delicious lunch for $20. Children can add to their workshop experience by building an authentic cypress bluebird house.
These regulation-size bluebird houses will allow kids of all ages to enjoy bluebirds in their backyards for years to come. For an additional $25, kids can be supervised by Claudia Mason during a 10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. session to create a birdhouse. All of the materials will be provided with each session, limited to 10 participants.
Mason, who grew up on Susina Plantation in Grady County, is an avid bird enthusiast with a special love for the Eastern Bluebird. For the past 20 years, she has turned her yard into a haven for not only bluebirds, but all feathered wonders. Through her love for bluebirds, she has learned about their habitats and how to properly build houses for them to hatch babies.
While kids are enjoying the local workshops hosted on the grounds of the Garden Center, parents can tune in and hear from two keynote speakers, Tom Faircloth and Stephen Strickland, beginning at 10 a.m. inside the Garden Center.
A native of Thomasville, Faircloth has combined his love of photography and nature to share vivid images of the South Georgia and North Florida flora, landscapes, sunsets, tides, and ocean currents.
During the scourge of COVID in early 2020, when Faircloth and his wife first quarantined themselves, he began focusing his photographic interests on various pollinators in their natural habitats. Since that time, he has broadened his quests. His current collection of photographs includes a diverse array of butterflies indigenous to the South Georgia and North Florida region. These include Fritillaries, Sulfurs, Skippers, a wide assortment of Swallowtails, including the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the Queen, the Viceroy, the American Lady, and his preferred butterfly: the Monarch.
In addition to butterflies, Faircloth photographs other pollinators and garden friends of the butterfly, including a variety of bees, wasps, dragonflies, lizards, and anything else found on host plants in his Thomasville garden.
Following Faircloth’s speech, guests will enjoy hearing from Strickland, a nursery manager and grower.
Strickland’s interest in plants began in 1993 when his father purchased 50 acres in Southern Grady County, a property rich in native species and diverse ecosystems. This early exposure sparked a lifelong interest in native plants and wildlife.
In 1997, Strickland launched his professional career at Wright Nurseries’ Square Deal Division, where he began in the maintenance department, before transitioning to hands-on field tasks such as order pulling, trimming, and plant spacing. By 1999, he advanced to the irrigation department, and in 2001, he became Plant Health Supervisor at Wright Nurseries’ Hawthorne Trail Division during its transition to Monrovia.
He would go on to join Flowerwood Nursery in 2006 as Production Manager, where he led all aspects of growing, pruning, planting, irrigation, and production planning.
In 2024, along with his work at Flowerwood, Strickland’s passion for growing plants and desire to give back to nature inspired him to launch Strickly Native — a small nursery dedicated to growing premium native wildflowers with a focus on pollinator-friendly species.
He produces his plants from locally harvested seeds and propagates from cuttings as well as division.
Guests will enjoy hearing about how they can incorporate native plants into their landscape, along with the ecological benefits and beauty that they provide.
Following both keynote speakers, a lunch will be provided for ticket holders.
Tickets are $45 and include access to both speakers and lunch catered by the Harrison Wright Catering Company.
Upon the conclusion of lunch, guests can stick around for a make-and-take workshop, where participants will learn and create a line mass arrangement.
Beginning at 1:15 p.m., the Make and Take Workshop will be led by two Master Flower Show Judges, Mary Tomlinson and Marge Willis.
Tomlinson has presented numerous programs on flower arranging throughout the state of Georgia and is always willing to share her talents. She is the former president of Thomasville Garden Club, Inc., and has served on the Camellia District Board as Co-Director.
Willis is also a former president of the Thomasville Garden Club, Inc., and has served on the Garden Club of Georgia Board. She enjoys creating arrangements as well, and promises a fun time for all those who choose to attend the workshop.
The $40 workshop will include a container, plant material, and clippers.
This will be the final event of the symposium, concluding at 3 p.m., with all funds set to benefit student scholarships, local community projects, and renovations of the beloved Thomasville Garden Center.
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