"DaveP" wrote after...
Bob Hobden had a go at a fool
..... I understand there are over 1,000 williamsii hybrids alone ...

I don't think I've given much thought to Camellias for many years, but
it's funny how things suddenly click and cause a flood of memories.
Back in the very early '70s, there was a chappy living near Evesham
who'd become disillusioned with being an accountant and decided to
raise and grow Camellias instead. A brave move because of the time
span involved and as beautiful as they are, Camellias were never at
the forefront of 'Joe Public's' attention unless they were in flower.
IIRC he had quite a few of his own varieties, and he could certainly
grow excellent plants. They were mostly williamsii types and I think
it's fair to say that many were pretty close to existing varieties.
Nevertheless, they were well worth having and several were outstanding
so we sold as many as he could supply.

Anyway, I decided to google just one of the hybrids that I could
remember; C. 'Janie Anderson', which I grew in my Bromsgrove garden
and found that it is still around, being grown at the Duchy nurseries
in Cornwall of all places. Then I discovered that another, 'Elizabeth
Anderson' crops up on several grower's lists and gained an AGM after
being submitted by Trehane nurseries a couple of years ago. I don't
know what happened to David and have just a faint inkling that he
suddenly went off the scene, but it's nice to think that his
enthusiasm and inspiration nearly 40 years ago led to a plant that
looks good today and is likely to be around for many years to come.

We got a few from Stonehurst Nursery which was down near Wakehurst Place,
used to be a rather interesting Camellia and Orchid nursery that grew the
camellias from cutting from the local landowners place, so some rare old
varieties. "Madame de Strekaloff" for example, which is one of my
favourites.
Sadly the nursery is no longer with us.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden