What's New at Camellia Forest Nursery

Have you ever noticed plants take up an exponential amount of water and space as they grow? To address the need for space in the nursery we started to grow plants at a nearby property last year. This year a majority of our plants are at the new location. The open house will be at the new location with plenty of parking and some beautiful plants. Of course we are trying to have more Camellias as well as an exciting diversity of woody ornamentals.

I plan to continue growing many of the plants in smaller sizes so that they can be shipped and so you can try growing lots of them. The additional space has allowed me to add many conifers to our list—some are large trees while others are quite slow growing. Several of the newer redbuds including the stunning ‘Hearts of Gold’ are available, although way too big to ship. I do plan to ship Magnolias grown by Pat McCracken who will not be shipping anymore. Pat has grown a limited number of select Magnolias including M. macrophylla v. dealbata, M. tamaulipana ‘Bronze Sentinel’ and M. ‘Mini Mouse’. Please e-mail for other Magnolias available in limited supply.

The most exciting new plants include Cercidiphyllum ‘Tidal Wave’ a vigorous weeping form of this beautiful tree; Cephalotaxus ‘Fritz Huber’ which is an improvement of ‘Prostrata’; the rare Cornus wilsonii; Loropetalum ‘Green Elf’ with tiny light green leaves; Phyllocladus alpinus which is just weird; and the prized Stewartia malocadendron. For those of you who like bright yellow in your garden we are offering Cotinus ‘Golden Spirit’, two Cryptomeria with yellow new growth—‘Barabit’s Gold’ and ‘Golden Promise’, five different yellow Hinoki cypresses, Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’ as well as ‘Hearts of Gold’ Redbud. Zelkova ‘Bright Park’ has yellow variegated foliage, but the orange bark really stands out in the winter.

We have many new Camellias and I will list some of them here: Several years ago I found a showy yellow variegated branch sport on my plant of C. sasanqua ‘Shikishima’ and after several years it has been quite stable and resistant to sunburn so now I offer ‘Shikishima Splash’. ‘Scented Snow’ is a new introduction described below which is a fall blooming hybrid. Three new sasanquas with very double blooms are ‘Cecilia’, ‘Lisa’ and ‘Autumn Sentinel’ so really nice flower forms are being developed for fall color. Dr. Ackerman released several new cold hardy fall bloomers which we have propagated and these are ‘Ashton’s Pink’, ‘Elaine Lee’, ‘Winter’s Red Rider’ and ‘Winter’s Sunset’. ‘Winter’s Red Rider’ is a very compact grower although I think it will be larger than ‘Winter’s Rose’ but still a useful plant where you have less space. ‘Winter’s Sunset’ has a nice variegation which is a new addition to the palette of all Camellias.

For spring blooming Camellias we have many new choices too. One of Dr. Ackerman’s newer spring bloomers is ‘Ice Follies’ which is 50% C. oleifera but it still blooms in March. Another very cold hardy variety, ‘Longwood Valentine’ comes from Longwood Gardens where they selected a Korean C. japonica from plants which survived in Philadelphia for the last 15 years. Other proven cold hardy varieties are ‘Maidens of Great Promise’ and ‘Meredith’ which we offer for the first time.

With my dad’s help we have grown many Camellia species from seed so will have nice plants of newly available species. A yellow flowered species which is easy to grow is C. chrysanthoides and this does have slightly more cold hardiness. We also have some C. granthamiana with its amazing large flat flowers. Although we have offered it before C. chekiangoleosa is a very worthwhile plant and I find the foliage to be very handsome and fruits will really get some attention.

Some new spring bloomers with very nice blooms include ‘Barbara Clark’, a x williamsii; the dark red ‘Dr. J. C. Raulston’; the variegated ‘Katie Supreme’; from Tom Dodd comes ‘Elizabeth Ann’; and the deep red of ‘Tama Vino’ is stunning. The origin of ‘Hallstone Spicy’ seems to be a mystery but this is one to grow for fragrance.
Some rare plants have been shifted into large containers and are available with quantity discounts. Who needs a forest of Golden Larch with Prunus mume for winter interest? The seven foot Davidias should bloom in less than ten years.

My mom, Kai Mei has come out of retirement and has potted thousands of seedlings and rooted cuttings of Camellia species, trees and tea. Speaking of tea my wife, Christine continues the tea adventure by making tea as well as starting a small tea garden. Look for her future articles on tea in the American Camellia Society (ACS) journal. My daughter, Julia (age 3) is a great blueberry picker although she eats almost all that she picks. My son, Alexander (age 9) helped with writing the catalog but stand back when the bamboo light saber is activated.

My dad, Clifford continues many breeding projects with Camellias, Primulas and Magnolias. This year we are releasing a fall blooming hybrid ‘Scented Snow’ which is outstanding for its sweet fragrance as well as being a vigorous grower and a showy white bloomer. A wider range of colors and patterns in the heat tolerant Primulas flourish and we hope to distribute these to garden centers this winter (please inquire).

-David
September, 2007