CAMELLIA HOUSE 



AT PLANTING 



FIELDS, OYSTER 



BAY, N. Y. 



In a house specially de- 

 signed to ensure cool 

 conditions in summer 

 time Mr. Coe success- 

 fully cultivates a unique 

 collection of about 100 

 plants representing 

 about 30 selected varie- 

 ties of this now ne- 

 glected, gorgeous, and 

 difficult flower 

 (See also page 290) 



RECONSIDERING THE CAMELLIA 



LEONARD BARRON 



An Old-time Almost Discarded Favorite that Finds a New Cham- 

 pion for its Austere Captivating Beauty in Garden and Greenhouse 



(ANY a visitor to the New York Flower Show last 

 March experienced a new sensation when viewing the 

 display of Camellias made by Mr. W. R. Coe; for 

 many another the vision reconstructed memories of 

 an almost forgotten past. 



A hundred years ago the gardens and greenhouses of America 

 treasured collections of Camellias. That was a hundred years 

 after the introduction of the plant to European cultivation, dur- 

 ing which time it had climbed into the front rank of popularity. 



In those days flowers used for bouquet work and so forth were 

 handled with a stiffness that is quite unknown among the floral 

 artists of to-day; everything was wired. Before starting to 

 compose an arrangement of flowers the blooms were frequently 

 deprived of their natural stems, wire supports being substituted. 



The Camellia lent itself admirably to this treatment, and was 

 perhaps largely accountable for it, since the flower is produced 

 without any appreciable stalk, is usually clustered tightly down 

 among the leaves and, when cut, with a short twig or branch not 

 lending itself easily to decorative work. But the flower itself 

 made up for all deficiencies in the habit of growth of the plant. 

 Red, pink, or white and with the most fantastic stripings, 

 blotchings, and marblings, it glowed and endured when more 

 transitory flowers of perhaps even greater intrinsic appeal 

 would fade. The petals of the Camellia are very thick, leath- 

 ery, and although quickly discoloring if bruised will otherwise 

 remain in condition for a week, easily. 



But fashions change, and fancy shifted from the magnificent 

 stiffness of the Camellia flower to others more plastic and per- 

 haps easier to grow. In the period of its heyday every private 

 establishment of any pretense had its Camellia house. Many 

 of them were converted orangeries. Coming from China and 

 Japan in a great variety of bizarre colorings, hardly any two 

 alike, these plants stimulated a great rivalry between well-to-do 

 amateurs for the possession of the most modern, fantastic, and 

 diversified collections. If seeds were sown, more varieties ap- 

 peared; for the Camellia is one of those immensely variable 



plants like the Dahlia and Chrysanthemum, the present day 

 representative of what has evidently been a cultivated favorite 

 in the Orient from very ancient times. All the hundreds of 

 catalogued varieties are evidently seedling variations and sports 

 of just one species, and not the products of hybrid ancestry. 



Its former popularity was so great that it has a comparatively 

 elaborate literature and, in particular, whole albums of colored 

 portraits of its multitudinous varieties; one work of several 

 published in France around 1850 having nearly 600 such illus- 

 trations in full color. In one of these books bearing date of 

 1843 and published in Paris (" Iconographie du Genre Camellia" 

 by L'Abbe Berlese) we find evidence of an expanding interest 

 in this flower that then existed in America. 



"For the last twenty years," says the author, "Americans 

 have been interested in the culture of the Camellia;" the most 

 important collections of which were to be found in the neigh- 

 borhoods of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, where, he 

 goes on to say, "the most prominent society leaders have taken 

 up Camellia culture with an 'incredible persistence,'" so great 

 indeed was the interest attributed to American professional and 

 amateur cultivators at that time; and he finishes the reference by 

 a tribute of thanks for their interest in the cultivation and in- 

 troduction of this plant to Messrs. Floy, Harrison, Smith, 

 Buist, Wilder, Sherwood, Landreth, and Dunlap — names 

 which evoke many memories among all who have followed the 

 early history of gardening in America. 



HOW different to-day! — in place of many collections there 

 stands only one, and that an entirely modern collection, 

 gathered together within the last few years by Mr. W. R. Coe 

 of Oyster Bay, Long Island. There are reasons for the slacken- 

 ing of interest in Camellia growing; for one thing, it is not an 

 easy plant to grow in that part of the Northeastern United 

 States where plant collection is chiefly centred. It does not 

 take kindly to hot, dry summer weather and needs special ac- 

 commodations to mitigate the intensity of the heat. The 



298 



