Camellia Club of Mobile Newsletter

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Volume II Issue 6 _________________March 2006

FRAGRANT CAMELLIAS???

If like many people you think that, beautiful as they are, camellias lack perfume - you will be agreeably surprised by all the information Dr. Jim

Dwyer will present at our next Meeting. In his personal camellia garden he has many scented camellias and anyone who is interested in this

unexpected attribute of our favorite flower should be sure to attend this program. It will be held at our regular Meeting place at the Mobile

Botanical Gardens in Langan Park on Sunday, March 12. Social half-hour begins at 2 p.m. with the meeting beginning at 2:30 p.m., don’t be

late. Note: scented camellias are not wimpy, some have powerful, knock-you-down & spin-you-around scents!

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Grafting Meeting well attended

Our February meeting was held at Bellingrath Gardens and we had an excellent turnout of people wanting to learn about grafting camellias.

Jim Smelley as usual demonstrated his expertise in this technique to a very interested audience. Nine new members joined at the meeting,

which was held at Bellingrath in conjunction with their “Celebrate Camellias” weekend event, in which many of our members participated.

Garden Tour

There was a good turnout of members at Robert & Pam Steele’s home in Mobile on March 5th. The Steeles had invited Club members to tour

their garden and see all the beautiful camellias. Most of the plants were thirty years old and quite large, having been planted there by the

previous owner of the property. Some talented planning by Robert and Pam managed to preserve in situ most of the lovely original garden,

the few camellias that were inside the footprint of their large new home were carefully removed with a tree spade and planted elsewhere in

the yard. We’ve seen many lovely old camellias bulldozed to make room for new developments in the last few years - the Steeles must be praised and thanked for their conservation efforts - stripping off vines and undergrowth that were concealing their camellias treasure was a

huge effort. Our congratulations on their elegant garden and our thanks for the opportunity to tour and enjoy it.

In Memoriam

We sadly announce the passing recently of Mrs. Hallie Youngchild, the widow of Kenneth Youngchild. The Youngchilds were long-time active members of the Camellia Club of Mobile until Ken’s death a few years ago after a car accident. Hallie was a respected Fairhope business-

woman and Ken was a six-time President of our Club - in 2000 we calculated that Ken had been President of the Mobile Club for l0% of its existence. Hallie was one of the first to bring waxing camellias to the attention of Club members with copies of a magazine article.

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CAMELLIA CHAT

Anyone who has taken to heart Jim Smelley’s instructions on how to graft camellias may have had the same problem I have had - I couldn’t

find any of the large 32 oz. styrofoam cups that Jim uses to protect the grafted plant. Small plastic bottles and milk jugs are not too good

since it is difficult to pinch out the tops later on. However... the problem is now solved! Dr. Jim Dwyer has found a source for the Styrofoam

cups and will be selling them to benefit the Club at $2.00 per 20. These will be available at the next meeting on March 12.

A visit the The Zoo at Gulf Breeze, Florida, a couple of weeks ago (to see their brand-new baby hippo!) gave us a nice surprise. We knew

the Zoo had sustained considerable damage to their trees and plantings from Ivan, then Katrina and Denis. We did not hold out much hope

for their Camellia Walk of mature camellias. We were delighted to find them all surviving and blooming in excellent condition. Camellias are

very tough plants!

The Mobile “Festival of Flowers” will be taking place in the grounds of Providence Hospital (changed from the past venue of Springhill

College) this month. Our Club will be having a table in the garden clubs section - as we did the first time we participated. Cristy Atkinson has

taken on the task of organizing our booth and will need volunteers to man it for the duration of the festival. If you can donate a couple of

hours out of your busy schedule to help out at the Club table please call Cristy at 251-675-5021, her cell phone is 545-6493.