On 14/11/05 23:23, in article
, "Sacha"
wrote:

On 14/11/05 23:10, in article
, "Ian Keeling"
wrote:
Hi,
Talk about this year being odd. we have a cammelia just bursting into
flower
lovely red.

snip

I wrote this bit!

Doesn't it usually do that? I ask because Camellia sasanquas are in flower
now. One we have in the garden has been in flower for a month, at least.
I'll have to go and look at its label tomorrow because I'm not going out
there in the pitch dark and cold! And Camellia sasanqua Narumi Gata is
coming into flower now in another bed.

Oh, go on! Get your torch out - we can't wait till morning! ;-)

It'll do you good. And much more to the point it will do *me* good!! It
begins with a 'T', though - just to keep you occupied! ;-)

I was wrong, it's not a sasanqua, it's a japonica, one of those which
flowers early, so it had me fooled. It's 'Takahini' and shows every promise
of being a really marvellous plant. Ours is a real baby, probably no more
than 2' tall but it's covered in buds and the flowers are a wonderful deep
plummy red - rather unusual in Camellias. It was bred in Auckland, New
Zealand and I think we got ours from Trehane Nursery in Cornwall - it's not
all that easy to find in UK.
We also have a 'fishtail Camellia, Camellia japonica 'Kingyo-Tsubaki', which
has a most interesting leaf which is split and slightly twisted at the tip.
These came from Agatha Christie's old garden at Greenway and were given to
us by a cousin of her husband. It's only the more discerning observer that
notices those but they come and ask us "is that Camellia okay?" quite often!
I have an ongoing love affair with Camellias which started when I became
more interested in gardening. My ex f-i-l had a wonderful Camellia avenue
in his Jersey garden and more of them lining a drive to the house. I think
they captured my heart the first time I saw that, way back in the mid 70s.
He was very involved with the International Camellia Society so it was
probably a case of subtle brainwashing! Grow more, grow more!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)