In February of 2008 Magnolia Plantation and Gardens hosted a meeting of ten public gardens and interested private individuals for the purpose of investigating the potential of forming a preservation alliance to locate, collect, promote and defend ancient azalea and camellia cultivars which are being lost daily due to large estates being developed into residential subdivisions and a lack of awareness by the public in general as to their value in the botanical world.

The meeting generated much interest in collecting all of the ancient azalea and camellia cultivars that were growing in the United States prior to the twentieth century.

The outgrowth of that meeting was the formation of the Great Gardens of America Preservation Alliance.