Camellia Club of Mobile
Inc.
Newsletter
Issue 1 Volume IX October 2012
HERE WE GO AGAIN! Camellia Season
2012/2013 begins
The Club’s first meeting of the new camellia season was attended by over 50
members, including two guests. Our
new President, Lyman Holland, welcomed everyone and introduced the new Officers,
Vice-President Larry Heard, Treasurer Martha Terry, Secretary Dr. Jim Dwyer; and
Board Members Frances Ashcraft, Larry Bush, Walter Creighton, Elaine Smelley and
Jimmy Walker. Our guest speaker was Bill Finch, well-known to all of us through
his gardening columns in the Press-Register and weekly slots on WKRGTV5 and the
radio. Bill is now Executive
Director for the Mobile Botanical Gardens and he gave an interesting,
informative talk on camellias and the imperative need for gardening enthusiasts
like us to pass on our interests to younger generations. (We know this happens
with our Club, our current President Lyman Holland Jr. Is the son of Lyman F.
Holland who was President of the Club in the 1950s.) Bill also filled us in on
plans for expanding and improving the Botanical Gardens, one lovely project,
already underway, is a maze constructed with tea plant (c. sinensis) hedges.
Normally at the September meeting we do not see any camellias, except possibly a
sasanqua or two...however, Lyman brought not one, but two, gorgeous variegated
“Edna Bass” blooms, ungibbed too!! Looks like a good omen for the new season!
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Bring
all your problems and questions to the October 14th Meeting
The October Meeting will be your chance to get all your questions answered and
your problems solved (at least as far as camellias are concerned).
We’ll have a panel of experienced, talented camellia growers on hand to
give any help needed. One
particular subject to be addressed will be the cultivation of camellias in pots
which will be of interest to members who have restricted space in which to
indulge their hobby.
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In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Joann Ryan on August 1st
and of her husband Harry “Pat” Ryan on August 8th.
As many of you know Pat was a great plantsman, doing marvellous things at
Bellingrath Gardens, serving as President of our Club, writing interesting
columns in the newspaper and working with the Mobile Botanical Gardens
His work with MBG was so appreciated that the driveway from Museum Drive
up to the Gardens was named “Pat Ryan Drive”.
Until her health failed Joann tirelessly and quietly worked at our Shows,
doing whatever was needed. Our 73rd
Camellia Show has been dedicated to the memory of these two dear people. As Bill
Barrick so eloquently wrote in Pat’s obituary in the fall issue of the
Bellingrath Gardens Newsletter, “a mighty oak has fallen in the forest”.
Pat & Joann’s passing has left a hole in our hearts and in the camellia
world.
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Camellia Chat....
If you forgot the Club's outing on September 22 to Vernon Howell's Camellia
Nursery in Lucedale, MS, you missed
a very pleasant afternoon, with lots of good food at the Catfish Cottage and a
relaxed, easy tour of Vernon's greenhouses with a wide selection of quality
grafted camellias. None of us came
home empty-handed! Almost 20 years
ago when we first joined the Mobile Camellia Club Jim Oates took us to Vernon's
to buy our first camellias, the start of a collection that now numbers over 250!
Lovely plants!
Missing from our September Meeting were our Secretary Jim Dwyer (under medical
supervision in Arkansas after a minor stroke - but he is O.K. now, thank
goodness!), Barney Barnard (in hospital with possible pneumonia, now at home
being ably nursed by Laura, our best wishes for a speedy recovery) and Ray
Calloway (bed-ridden with flu-like symptoms- Ray is better now, but has
generously passed the 'bug' onto our dear Kay to whom we send get-well wishes).
Vice-President Larry Heard did manage to attend the meeting despite a very
painful shoulder due to an argument with a tractor!
We now have a Catering Member!
Leannah Holland has kindly volunteered to oversee the food for the monthly
social half-hour before each meeting.
Sharon Emmons will continue her sterling job of organizing
the Judges Reception that we hold each year the evening
before our January Camellia Show.
Our thanks to both these ladies for volunteering.
Some more info on how great camellias are...
English breakfast tea (a strong black tea) has been shown to contain a
chemical which can help deactivate
ricin - a very powerful poison derived from the castor bean plant,
plus these same polyphenols can inhibit the effects of that nasty anthrax
stuff. Just drink the
tea black, no milk added. Tea, of
course, is camellia sinensis.