66 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



THE CAMELLIA AS A HARDY SHRUB* 



The greenhouse has done us few worse turns than spreading the idea that the 

 Camellia is a tender shrub. Its culture was so common in pots that little thought 

 was given to it out of doors. Yet it is hardier than some of our common ever- 

 green shrubs. The cultivation of the Camellia in pots having gone a little out 

 of use, and as indoors it did not always do well unless the plants were planted 

 out in large houses, we have arrived at this state of things that, in many places, 

 we see it well grown neither indoors nor out. If neglected or forgotten in the 

 house and not seen out of doors we lose the charm of one of the handsomest 

 shrubs of temperate climes, both for the effect of its foliage and its brilliant 

 flowers, yet there are many places over half our country at least where the 

 Camellia can be grown well as a shrub. In some parts of the south, and near 

 the sea generally, success is so marked that the plants grow as freely as Hollies. 

 They would thrive much farther north if they had a fair chance. The old 

 plants on the north wall at Chiswick in the Thames Valley, which have flowered 

 so well for many years, prove how hardy and enduring the shrub is. In all 

 valleys plants suffer more from cold in winter, so that in gardens where there is 

 some diversity of surface, and on the sides of hills, their growth would be safer. 

 A mistake has been made in the adoption of the double to the exclusion of the 

 single kinds, and in the Camellia, especially in its outdoor aspect, we doubt if 

 the double flower is an improvement. In fact, the single Camellias are more 

 beautiful in colour and varied depth of flower surface, and there is no doubt 

 that many beautiful single kinds which would have graced our gardens, have been 

 thrown away in the past in the chase after double varieties. In a cool climate 

 like our own the double flower does not open so well out of doors, and every- 

 thing points to the superiority of the single Camellia in its pure and decided 

 and varied colours. Hitherto, in planting out, most people have only taken the 

 warmest positions, so that while the wood ripened well, the flower on the other 

 hand was exposed too soon to the deceptions of our early February suns and 

 suffered all the more. In the plants on the north wall at Chiswick we have 

 proof that a northern exposure will often suit perfectly, and those who wish to 

 plant the Camellia should do so in a variety of aspects, and even favour the 

 northern and eastern ones. As to soil, we have known the plant to grow in 

 the coarsest rubbish, and it is not difficult anywhere if we avoid lime. 



Sir F. T. Barry has well shown in his garden at St. Leonard's Hill, Windsor, 

 that it is not only in the favoured southern counties that success with the 

 Camellias may be hoped, and in various notes to The Garden and other journals 

 has told of his success ; he has many plants thriving out of doors in all aspects ; 

 they flower beautifully in spring and early summer and even ripen fertile seeds 



With coloured plate from drawing made at Sanders' Nursery, St. Albans. 



