Dear Members,

It seems there may have been some confusion about our May meeting date, so I wanted to send a quick reminder:

Our End-of-Year Picnic is scheduled for Sunday, June 1st at 2:00 PM at Jim Smelley’s home, as discussed and voted on at the April meeting and included in the May newsletter sent on May 3rd.

As a reminder, the May meeting is always a little different due to our year-end celebration. This year, because of scheduling conflicts and the Memorial Day holiday, the picnic was moved to June 1st.

This is a potluck event, and the Club will be providing the meat. If you need directions to Jim’s, please contact Maureen, Larry, Debbie, Don, or Carolyn.

We’re looking forward to a great afternoon together to wrap up a wonderful Camellia Club year—hope to see you there!

Maureen Kennedy

Secretary

CAMELLIA HISTORY FACT

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This is a new feature that will be updated periodically.

The C. Reticulata cultivars ‘Frank Houser’ and ‘Frank Houser Variegated’ consistently receive the highest number of awards at camellia shows . ‘Frank Houser’ originated from a seedling of the Reticulata hybrid 'Buddha' x Japonica 'Steve Blount' that was cultivated by Dr. Walter E. Homeyer. Although Dr. Homeyer was initially unimpressed by the bloom, his close friend and neighbor, Frank Houser, admired it so much that Dr. Homeyer named the plant after him and registered it in 1989. A virus-variegated form of the Reticulata hybrid 'Frank Houser' was subsequently registered in 1990 by Marvin Jernigan. ‘Frank Houser’ was honored with the National Camellia Hall of Fame award in 1995.

Bloom ranking for camellia cultivars can be found at   ACCS Bloom Ranking Archives

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T. W. Bower of Mobile produced  a graft of 'Doctor Knapp on 'Mathotiana variegated understock.  The bloom from this graft did not resemble the scion or the rootstock.  It was classified as a graft chimera. The term chimera comes from Greek mythology and was depicted as a creature with a lion’s head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. When applied to  biology it means. an organism having tissues from different organisms. Presumably, a growth bud that originated at the graft union developed with tissues from the rootstock and the scion. Mr. Bower named the cultivar for his daughter Helen Bower.  Belle Fontaine Nursery in Theodore, Alabama began selling it in 1964

Helen Bower was shown on the cover of the July 1964 ACS publication THE CAMELLIA JOURNAL. You can see a picture of Helen Bower by going to  Camellia Library - General Search Feature and typing  Helen Bower. 

Another graft chimera originated from a graft of a camellia japonica on a Camellia sasanqua, You can read about this at  Yearbook-1970-Camellia Daisy Eagleson-A Chimera.pdf

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CAMELLIAS ON DISPLAY           LEARN ABOUT CAMELLIAS      CAMELL IAS FOR SALE     PREPAIRING BLOOMS FOR SHOW       VERA CURRY WITH JIM SMELLEY VERA IS LIVING IN ENGLAND AND TRAVELED TO MOBILE TO COME TO OUR SHOW           EILEEN DWYER, VERA CURRY, FRANCES ASHCRAFT, MELBA HAMBURG AT 2018 SHOW                    LOVELY BLOOMS ON DISPLAY

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BILL CURRY                                                     OYLER'S CORAL TERESA

A PREVIOUS CAMELLIA SHOW

A LIST OF CAMELLIA HISTORY LINKS

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Mobile is the heart of camellia country.  To see a list of Mobile area camellias click the link below.

Mobile Area Camellias