CULT OF CAMELLIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 26

CULT OF CAMELLIA

A GRACEFUL LITTLE FLOWER

Many flowers popular in Victorian days, flowers which have dropped out of many gardens, are rapidly returning to favour. Geraniums with their gorgeous colouring and fascinating scented leaves, camellias, nerines, agapanthus, and even the humble marigold are all back .in favour and finding their place in the garden. The gardening expert of "The Queen" in a recent issue pays a fine tribute to the camellia, a graceful little flower which is regaining much of the popularity it enjoyed fifty years ago. "The camellia is singularly Victorian in appearance, with the flawless, calm beauty of its wax-like, yet lustreless, flowers and its rich, evergreen foliage," writes "The Queen" expert. "To my thinking these shrubs when well grown are far lovelier than rhododendrons. As tvb1 plants, especially with a fine architectural background, they are unsurpassed. ... As they are evergreen, the shrubs are beautiful at all seasons, and at the flowering season, with their lovely, rose-like flowers, are full of beauty. . "Even in small gardens of moderate size, a few or even only two, tubs of camellias well placed look very decorative. The early sun shining on the flowers after a frosty night, such as frequently occur in early spring, will damage the bloom, but a sheltered corner will obviate this. GREENHOUSE OR OUT OF DOORS. "Camellias are ideal subjects to grow under glass shelters such as are often placed along one side of the house. In unheated greenhouses. they do admirably, for they are. very nearly hardy; and given even the shelter of a greenhouse with no artificial, heat at all, it is possible to grow the double kinds. For out of doors it is best-to grow the single or semi-doublt kinds. The double, do well only in the very mildest-parts. -, .:'. •.?-,. ■■',-.-, ■■" '. ■"Gamellifs^'de'testr'linVe;. "and .grown in tubs they like a compost of two parts good turfy loam, one part leaf mould (or, still better, peat), and one part coarse sand. It is essential to stand the tubs on bricks: Camellias want little, but that little they must have. They need little or no pruning, except.to cut back any straggling shoots after flowering, but camellias are as a rule tidy growers. During the summer they must stand out in the open in' part shade and in dry spells have to be syringed every day. If.given too much or too'little water when making their budsvthey are apt to -drop their buds. Even-in summer they can never be; left exposed to winds during cold days. In the case of full-grown plants, with tubs lull ■of roots, an occasional feed with liquid manure is helpful.' Buds ■ should <be thinned out. if overcrowded, and while they are swelling the plants need to have their roots kept moist but not too moist. Growing camellias out.of doors is very much simpler than under glass. If grown under, glass it is almost essential to. put the tubs out of doors in/summer,-.'for left in a cold greenhouse they are susceptible' to mealy bug, .red spider, black mould, and so forth, and to. keep these pests at bay continual syringing is necessary.; Putting the plants out of doors is the-best protection against these, troubles. LIKES AND DISLIKES. "Although loam and peat, lovers, camellias do wonderfully well in sandy soil. The essential is a really well-drained soil and no lime. In' Victorian times camellias were regarded as purely greenhouse plants, but we are realising that they are far hardier than was formerly believed. Even in fairly severe frosts the foliage does not suffer, though the wax-like flowers are often ruined. In most parts south of London camellia sasanqua is in full bloom in December, but these charming pink flowers are quickly spoilt by frost. In Italy this camellia makes shrubs 15ft to 20fi high and as much across. The queen of ■ camellias. is, I think, C. reticulata, with pink, semidouble flowers 6in across. In all but the very mildest parts it has to have the shelter of.-a cold house."