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Camellia Club of Mobile |
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Camellia
Club of Mobile Newsletter Volume 1 Issue
7
April 2005 April meeting HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR CAMELLIAS The focus of the Club’s meeting on April 10th at
Bellingrath Gardens will be on keeping your camellias in tip-top shape for the
coming year. Our experts will be on
hand to offer advice and tips on pruning, fertilizing, spraying and general care
for your plants. If you have
any questions, do write them down and bring them to the meeting.
Bring samples (safely enclosed in a Ziploc bag!) of any leaves or blooms
you may have that seem sickly, chewed on or otherwise diseased.
Collectively the membership of this Camellia Club has a wealth of
knowledge on growing camellias and we should be able to help.
A number of camellia books will be available at the meeting so members
can look up stuff (sorry, these books are NOT for sale!).
The other important business of this meeting will be to elect a new
Governing Board for the Camellia Club of Mobile for the 2005- 2006 camellia season.
Your attendance at this meeting will be appreciated.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In Memoriam Harold G. Beckham. We sadly report the unexpected death of Club member
Harold Beckham who passed away on March 31st at age 78.
It was just the month before, on February 20th, that Harold invited the
Club to tour his personal garden and view the many large camellia plants that
totally enclosed his property. Harold
first joined the Camellia Club of Mobile in l965 and was a member for several
years, his other interests with the Coca-Cola Company took up his time for
several years but about four years ago he re-joined the Club and was a active
member until his death. A floral
arrangement was sent with the Club’s condolences. Elise Nihart Mrs. Nihart, the mother of Club past President David
Nihart, passed away at the end of March. Elise
used to attend Club meetings with her son, though frail health has prevented her
from doing so in the past few years. She will be missed by all who knew her, the
Club’s condolences have been sent to David. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Sweet Spiced Pecans 2 egg whites 1 cup sugar 1 tsp each of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, salt 1/4 cup sherry or marsala 6 cups shelled pecans Whisk egg whites until frothy, add all ingredients
except pecans and mix well. Add
pecans, coating thoroughly before spreading out evenly in single layer on
lightly greased tin foil placed on baking tray.
Bake in 250 degree oven for about 90 minutes. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CAMELLIA CHAT...... The March meeting was enjoyed by all who attended.
Ray Calloway’s talk on the plants he uses in his own garden to
complement his camellias was very informative, lots of people were taking notes
and asking questions... if you’ve
visited Ray & Kay’s garden you will know why.
Those two have green fingers all the way up to their elbows! If you are a new gardener in the South, there is a
marvelous book entitled “Gardening in the Humid South” which was written by
two older gentlemen, Ed O’Rourke and Leon Standifer. These two are retired LSU horticulturists with a great
enthusiasm for plants and gardening which they ably communicate in their book.
The book is funny as well as tremendously informative, to quote someone
who read it “you know these dudes had their hands in the dirt and loved
it!”. While leafing through an old gardening book I came
across the following camellia legend: Apparently
the tea plant, camellia sinensis, owes
itself to Darma, an Indian mystic. He
fell asleep when he should have been praying and meditating, to punish himself
he cut off his eyebrows and threw them to the ground, where they took root and
grew into the first tea plant! I do
enjoy my tea leaves steeped, but steeped eyebrows???
Yukk! That story quite put
me off my morning cup of tea. |