What Does Northwest Georgia Look Like in the Winter? (Atlanta: live, gardens)

[canudigit]

My dh and I will be passing through GA on our way to the Daytona 500 during the last week or so of February. My dh is very interested in relocating to the Cartersville area to return to his southern roots and wants to check the area out extensively as a potential home. I am wondering what kind of picture we will get in late February in terms of how similar the area looks as compared to during the warmer months of the year. I realize that everything won't be all sunshine and flower gardens, but I am wondering about things like does the grass die and turn yellow/brown, and do all of the deciduous trees drop their leaves like they do in the North, or do you have some species, such as live oaks, that hold their leaves during the winter? I am basically hoping that it won't look like how southern Ohio or Kentucky look in February but I am not very familiar with northern GA winters.

[rcsteiner]

Pines will still be green, but most other trees will be leafless. Most of the grass will be brown, I suspect.

[canudigit]

Okay, thanks for the information. I know that this part of GA is a higher elevation, so it is probably more like the North in the winter time than I was hoping. Still, at least he can get a good look around.

Thanks again.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Okay, thanks for the information. I know that this part of GA is a higher elevation, so it is probably more like the North in the winter time than I was hoping. Still, at least he can get a good look around.

Thanks again.

It's more like the north in the wintertime in Atlanta, even, than many people expect. I wasn't expecting to see temps down in the teens in this city, but we see them for a few days (well, nights) every year.

[TehOmni]

This is from 2011:


Snow Blizzard in North Georgia - YouTube

[rcsteiner]

Here's a pic I took a month ago that shows what the hills in northern GA look like when the leaves are gone. I think this was on the way to Sky Valley.

[canudigit]

Thanks for the pictures, guys! Even in the winter it still looks pretty.

Like I said, my dh, who was born to two Southerners, has roots in the South that go back to 1674, and has ancestors who fought under General Lee, would like to get back to his Southern roots. Myself, I'm not sold on it. Not that I don't love the South and respect the people there, but ironically, that is why I don't think I could make the move. Even though dh is a product of the South indirectly and I have distant relatives whose branch of the family has been in Alabama since the early 1800s, the fact remains that we are now Northerners born and raised (NW Ohio). Because of that, I feel like moving to the South would make us part of the problem of exponential growth and resulting change that so many Southerners dislike and some even resent. I don't want to be another Northerner moving to the South amongst people who are weary of Northerners moving in and trying to change their towns and way of life. I love the South just the way it is (was?), and my wish is for it to stay as true to its culture and lifestyle as possible. I basically live like a Southerner in the North--socially conservative, church going, red girl in a blue state, etc.--but to native Southerners, I would just be another Northerner moving in, and I know that so many of you are dog weary of that already. I would hate to move somewhere where I would be resented based on how others from the North have been before me. If people were moving into my small town at an alarming rate and (some of) them were trying to change it drastically and didn't respect my way of life, I wouldn't be any too happy either, so I guess I figure two less Northerners would at least be a little something, right?

Anyway, didn't mean to get off on a tangent, and I really appreciate the information and the pictures. Thanks again!

[Jackalope]

As for brown grass, it depends on what kind of grass. Bermuda, centipede, zoyzia and other "carpet grasses" that require full sun to grow turn brown in the winter. Fescue, which is quite popular in Georgia and does not require full sun, remains green.

[will724]

The grass is brown and the leaves are gone from late December until early March.

[Hawknest]

Icy last night