Tip Jar: A new era

Interest in the genus Camellia has soared in the last decade as breeding, branding and marketing have increased highlighting this broadleaf evergreen as the flowering equivalent of a holly. Traditionally considered a plant for the South, new camellia varieties are being introduced that will soon change the landscape forever.

Today breeders are considering different merits as priority for selection: cold hardiness, landscape value and summer flowering traits. The 2013/2014 winter was a season for great cold hardiness testing, as plants across the country were subjected to sudden temperature drops and sustained periods below freezing. Plantsman extraordinaire, Barry Yinger of Conard-Pyle Star Roses, has been trialing the commercially available varieties that are classified as USDA Zone 6 hardy in central Pennsylvania.

“Hardiness in broadleaf evergreens is as much, or more, about duration of extreme cold as it is about actual minimum temperatures,” he says. “Looking at my camellias, old plants of Korean genetics look good, showing no real damage. Non-Korean spring blooming varieties in the trial plot are very badly injured; most will either die to the ground or die completely.”

The market is poised for a breakthrough, as breeders around the world are making crosses and selecting varieties that are consistently hardier.
 

The new era of camellia

Landscape value is not a recent phenomenon, but no one is doing a better job than Bobby Green, co-owner of Green’s Nurseries in Fairhope, Ala. The 10 varieties that make up the fall-blooming October Magic series, offered through the Southern Living Plant Collection, provide the perfect solution to the modern-day landscape. Growing habits range from low groundcovers to conical and upright forms. Each variety has dense, glossy green foliage that is beautiful year round.

In the world of camellia growers we have a saying, “The best and worst trait is that they bloom in the winter.” By the time gardeners are ready to make their spring purchases, most camellias have finished for the season. Hope lies in the newly discovered summer flowering species Camellia azalea.

Gene Phillips, co-owner of Tsubaki Camellias, a wholesale liner source in Savannah, Ga., has been instrumental in sharing plants of C. azalea with American breeders, and making important crosses to begin the search for the perfect summer flowering specimen.

“The future of camellias will be much different than what we have come to expect. With the discovery of the species Camellia changii (aka C. azalea), camellias no longer have to bloom in just the fall and winter months,” Phillips says. “In addition to expanding the blooming season, this unique species also offers potential to developing camellia flowers that are more heat tolerant.”

This Chinese native has a single red flower, produced sporadically year round, but in profusion from April-October.

Imagine summer blooming camellia hybrids as patio specimens, promoted nationwide as a seasonal shrub, like tropical hibiscus!
 

Remember the past

As a new era for camellias begins, it is important that as more funding and focus is directed at new varieties, we preserve the historically relevant cultivars that shaped the landscape a century ago. My personal mission, as a passionate propagator and camellia advocate, is to make sure the “old standards” aren’t lost in the future. Heritage collections, like those planted at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, S.C., are living pieces of history and deserve to be included in the modern-day nursery market. There is a huge opportunity to connect to consumers by promoting the folklore and history that a variety like ‘Governor Mouton’ carries. These stories resonate on a level beyond the aesthetic, and may be the very best tool for keeping camellias relevant for century to come.

Brienne Gluvna Arthur is the propagator at Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill, N.C. This retail mail-order nursery specializes in rare trees and shrubs. The CFN breeding program includes many cold-hardy camellia introductions. In her free time, Brie and husband David Arthur tend a 1-acre ornamental edible landscape in suburban Raleigh, N.C.