Camellia Club of Mobile  Newsletter

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Volume III  Issue 4                                                                                                                                                                 ________ January 2007   

GETTING  READY  FOR  OUR  REALLY  BIG  SHOW - DON’T  MISS  THIS!

The most important event of the Camellia Club of Mobile’s 2006-07 season occurs next weekend at Colonial Bel Air Mall on January 20 and

21 when we will be holding our 67th Annual Camellia Show.  The Club is proud that our Show is considered one of the premier events on the

camellia show circuit, with exhibitors and judges coming from most of the surrounding states as well as Alabama.  However, in order to maintain this reputation, the Club needs your help.  Our January l4th Meeting at the Botanical Gardens will be mainly devoted to preparing for the 2007 Show.  Chairman Walter Creighton will explain what help is needed, no experience necessary and you can have a really good time finding out how a camellia show works.  Helpers can spend all day at the Show, or just help for half an hour.  If you have blooms you wish to enter in the Show, experienced show participants will be there to guide you through the very simple process.  Our Club gives three

really nice novice trophies, so bring  your best blooms and maybe you’ll  win one!

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CHRISTMAS PARTY & AUCTION WELL ATTENDED

The Club’s annual Christmas Party was celebrated with enthusiasm by more than 60 members.  An added attraction to the usual excellent food

was an auction of camellia plants.  President George Davis did an excellent job as auctioneer, persuading the members present to invest a

total of $592.50 in large ball & burlap plants, hard-to-find show quality grafts from Jim Smelley, and some Christmas ornaments.  Our special

thanks go out to the Club’s catering organizer, Eileen Dwyer and her two assistants, Laura Barnard and Vaudine Driskell. Great work, ladies!

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CAMELLIA SHOWS IN JANUARY & FEBRUARY

The 2006 -2007 Camellia Show season is well underway. We urge all members to try and attend at least some of these shows, especially the one on 20-21 January!     

 If you feel you have some blooms worthy of exhibition at any of the shows, do take them along early on the first day.  The Clubs will be happy to see you and your blooms

and someone will help any novices in entering their flowers.

 

20 & 21 January    THIS IS OUR SHOW!  Not to be missed!  Colonial Bel Air Mall - Target entrance. Blooms can be entered from 7 a.m. Saturday, 20 January 2007.

 

27 & 28 January    Baton Rouge Club,  St.James Church, 4th & Florida Sts., Baton Rouge, LA. Entry for Blooms is 7:30 a.m. on 27th.  Open to public 3 p.m.

 

3 & 4 February      Brookhaven Club, Brookhaven Recreation Center, Hwy 51 N. Brookhaven, MS. Entry time for blooms is 7 a,m, on 3rd Feb. Open to public 2 p.m.

                           Satuday, 1 p.m. Sunday.                

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Garden Tours.....

The January 7th tour of Walter Creighton’s camellia greenhouses was very well attended.  Walter, we do hope your camellias have survived so many people drooling over them!  Two that caused much comment were the delightfully elegant “Elizabeth Acree” and the superbly

perfumed “High Fragrance”.  Our thanks to Walter and Alice for making it such an enjoyable afternoon, despite the wet weather!

 

Next tour is of Brenda Litchfield  & Jack Dempsey’s garden at 6163 Bayou Road, Mobile.  It will be on Sunday, 4 February 2007, 1:30 pm

The directions are on our website - Brenda’s tel. no. is 251-443-9929 if you get lost!

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CAMELLIA CHAT

Here’s some helpful information for those of you who want a particular camellia, can’t find it anyplace, and don’t yet have the confidence

to graft it yourself.  Kyle McCaskey, of Camellia Nursery, 10280 Hwy 613, Lucedale, MS, will  custom graft just about anything you may see

at our Show in January.  If you call him after the Show, you should be able to pick up your grafted plant the last week of August.  Tel. nos.

for Kyle are 601-508-1272 or 601-766-3031.  At present Club members are being offered this service for $15.00 per graft.  If you want

to graft your own, Kyle has sasanqua grafting stock available as well. 

 

Ella Rodenbaugh, a long-time member of our Club, has recently suffered some ill-health and has moved from her Montrose home to the

Homestead Village in Fairhope, AL.  Ella, all Club members who know you send their regards and best wishes for a continued speedy

recovery.