CHARLESTON, S. C. 
OE Ne NS 
OUR GRAFTED CAMELLIAS 
Many of our finest new varieties come from a 
small stock plant from which only a very few cut- 
tings can be taken. We then take the root system 
of a camellia worth at least $15.00 as an evergreen 
and graft the rare scion to it. Thus in two years 
we have a plant the size of a six year one propagated 
by ordinary methods, The fact we ruin a good plant 
to obtain its root system is the reason they are 
relatively expensive. However, their rapid growth 
strongly offsets their high price. 
Most of our grafts are on 8-10 year stock. For 
some reason, grafts will vary widely in size and shape 
despite the fact the understock is similar. We are 
very fortunate in the fact our understock has been 
rootpruned several times and their vigorous roots 
make our grafts thick and bushy, instead of the 
single long spindly stem one usually sees. If one of 
ours should happen to be a slender one, naturally it 
would not be priced according to its height. Thus 
each graft is priced according to its own merits. 
OUR ORIGINAL VARIETIES 
Magnolia Gardens were made world-famous by 
its azaleas being seen by the thousands of people 
who visited every spring—few ever realizing the mag- 
nificent camellias they walked by were even growing 
there—their glory had passed with the coming of the 
azaleas. Those who really know the Gardens feel 
that the place should be famous for its camellias 
collection which so few people see in the winter and 
early spring. 
These camellias were imported by the Reverend 
John G. Drayton, creator of Magnolia Gardens, dur- 
ing the 1840’s from France and Belgium. We have a 
letter of his written to a fellow minister dated 1858 
in which he states ‘I was afraid the other day that 
I had been exaggerating when in answer to his 
inquiries, I told a friend that I supposed their might 
be some 120 varieties of camellias at Magnolia. So I 
sat down and summed up the count afterwards and 
found that number of fine double varieties and 
how many more, I do not pretend to know—their; 
name seems to be something like ‘Legion’. Many 
of the plants are near 10 feet high and as thick as a 
holly bush—with almost as many flowers as leaves—’’. 
Some of these have reached colossal proportions, one 
double variety now measuring 28 feet in height, 23 
feet through, and 16 inches in trunk diameter. 
A few of our varieties have been on the market 
for years, and you will be surprised to find you 
probably already have some of them in your collec- 
tion. 
