During a brisk winter morning, while strolling through the Italian Terrace Garden, I found myself surrounded by camellia bushes heavy with bud and bloom. Flower colors ranged from blood red to the palest of pink with the occasional pure white bloom. Some flowers were mixed red and white reminding me of a peppermint stick. The flower form varied greatly as well. Some were reminiscent of peonies; others looked like roses; and still others like carnations. It’s no wonder many people mistakenly think the flower will produce fragrance. Most do not; however, one new to the scene is called ‘Sensation,’ and it does have a mild, yet distinct fragrance.
Once the camellia had arrived in California in the late 1800s, from its native countries of China and Japan, there was no looking back. In fact, by 1936, Mr. Boddy, a newspaperman by trade and a horticulturist by nature had assembled a 25-acre commercial camellia forest in La Canada-Flintridge, now known as Descanso Gardens.
Mr. Boddy’s camellias were picked and shipped daily to the East Coast, via environmentally controlled train cars on the Southern Pacific line. Imagine the New Yorker’s delight when meeting the train to purchase camellia blooms, which were used to adorn their parlors in the dead of winter. Regardless of the brief-cut life of a camellia flower, people have an insatiable appetite for their perfect form and mood-enhancing color. After picking a camellia, simply allow the two or three leaves under the bud to support the flower-like legs in a shallow dish of water. Avoid allowing the flower petals to get wet, but be sure the cut stem is submerged in the water. Place it on a table in indirect light, and it will last for several days.
Still in existence today, Nuccio’s Nursery in Altadena, California was established by an Italian family in 1935 and continues to be a world-class grower of rare and unusual camellias. Virginia Robinson, a regular customer of Nuccio’s Nursery, befriended Mr. Nuccio senior, and as the years ensued, he eventually bred a semi-double orchid pink camellia and named it after her. The Virginia Robinson camellia in bloom not only reminds you that her favorite color was pink, but also establishes the idea that you must be a very special person to have a camellia named after you. At the Virginia Robinson Gardens, adjacent to the Three Frog Fountain, you will find in late February a simple white blooming camellia, named by Virginia after her dear friend Coco Chanel. And it is no wonder as it totally resembles the silk camellia Chanel designed as her insignia, which could be worn on each of her creations. When this camellia was in season, Virginia preferred to wear the real camellia on her Chanel dress, and this was no secret to Coco, who was honored to have a plant in Virginia’s garden named after her.
Join us for a leisurely stroll in the garden to see our 96 varieties of camellias. The bloom season is long, starting the six-month bonanza of color and excitement in mid-November with Camellia sasanqua ‘Shishi-Gashira’ while Virginia Robinson winds up the season, finishing in late April.
It’s difficult not to notice the extreme beauty of the camellia flower. So beautiful is its color, it beckons the sun to rise; so perfect its form in the soft morning light, it brings joy to all that see it.
Post and Photos by
Timothy Lindsay
Superintendent Emeritus of the Virginia Robinson Gardens