On a brisk winter morning while strolling through the Italian Terrace Garden, I found myself surrounded by camellia bushes heavy with buds and blooms. Flower colors ranged from blood red to the palest of pinks with the occasional pure white blossom. Other flowers mixed red and white petals, reminding me of a peppermint stick. The form of the flowers varied greatly. Some were reminiscent of peonies, others looked like a rose, and still others could be mistaken for a carnation! It’s no wonder many people mistakenly think the flower will produce fragrance. Most do not; however, a few camellias new to the scene do produce sweet, somewhat spicey scents. They include ‘Minato-No-Akebono,’ ‘Kissi,’ ‘Koto-No-Kaori,’ ‘Buttermint,’ ‘Scentuous,’ and ‘Scented Gem.’
The first camellias arrived in California in the late 1800s, imported from the native countries of China and Japan. The camellia soon became an important evergreen shrub for the north side of a home and provided winter blooms. In the late 1930s, Elias Manchester Boddy purchased 165 acres of undeveloped land, a newspaperman by trade and a horticulturist and collector of camellias by nature. Mr. Boddy’s property is now in the public domain and is called Descanso Gardens, located in La Canada Flintridge.
Over the years, Boddy assembled an impressive camellia collection. He was the biggest customer for Mission Nursery and San Gabriel Nursery & Florist, both owned and managed by Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which allowed for the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans on U.S. soil during World War II. Boddy stepped up and purchased both nurseries before the owners were sent to detention camps. He staffed and managed the nurseries during the war. He returned the nurseries to their original owners when President Truman ordered the liquidation of the War Relocation Authority in June 1946. San Gabriel Nursery is still in operation today.
Coco Chanel Camellia (Left) | Virginia Robinson Camellia (Right)
Mr. Boddy’s camellias were picked at sunrise during winter and shipped daily to the East Coast via environmentally controlled train cars on the Southern Pacific line. Imagine the New Yorkers’ delight when meeting the train where they could purchase camellia blooms 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 flower to support it like legs in a shallow water dish. Avoid letting the flower petals get wet, but ensure the cut stem is submerged in the water. Place the camellia on a table in indirect sunlight, and it will last for several days.
Nuccio’s Nursery in Altadena, California, was established by an Italian family in 1935. It is a world-class nursery growing rare and unusual camellias, including the scented camellias mentioned in this article. Virginia Robinson, a regular customer of Nuccio’s Nursery, befriended its founder, Julius Nuccio, and as the years ensued, he eventually bred a semi-double orchid pink camellia and named it after her. It was first recorded in the 1956 Nuccio Nurseries Catalogue and was introduced commercially in 1957. This camellia is still offered for sale today. On one occasion, Julius and his assistant delivered and helped place camellias and azaleas in Virginia’s Italian Terrace Garden. After they finished, Virginia graciously invited them into the house for a cup of tea. Julius reluctantly accepted due to the mud stuck to his shoes. But Virginia, in her unpretentious and accommodating way, said, “Never mind, I have people to take care of that.”
The Virginia Robinson camellia in bloom not only reminds you that her favorite color was pink but also validates the idea that you must be a very special person to have a camellia named after you. Growing adjacent to the Three Frog Fountain Terrace, two very large Camellia japonica bushes grow side by side. The pink is the official Virginia Robinson camellia. The other, Virginia, affectionately nicknamed Coco after her friend, French designer Coco Chanel. When in bloom, the simple white flower resembles the silk camellia Chanel used as her symbol, 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, which was no secret to Coco, who was honored to have a plant in Virginia’s garden named after her. The two were great friends, and Virginia typically spent the third week in August staying at the Ritz in Paris, where Coco had her apartment. Virginia loved her room and the Ritz, and it inspired the French furnishing and color scheme of her master suite.
February is a perfect month to visit the Robinson Gardens to view the splendor of the camellia and azalea collection while in full bloom. The bloom season is relatively long, running from mid-November to late April. It is difficult not to notice the exquisite beauty of the camellia flower. So beautiful is its color that it beckons the sun to rise, to illuminate its perfect form, bathed in the soft morning light. And, albeit rare, you may actually catch the sweet-spicy fragrance of the scented camellia adrift on the heavy morning air.
Post and Photos by
Timothy Lindsay
Superintendent Emeritus of the Virginia Robinson Gardens
Leave a Reply