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Camellia Club of Mobile Inc.Newsletter Vol. VIII Issue 2 Nov 2011

Do you have any Antique Camellias? Find out on November 13^th!

Do try to attend our November 13^th Meeting (held at the Mobile Botanical Gardens as usual) since we have a very special program which will be presented by Florence Crowder of Louisiana. Florence has an enormous amount of knowledge about camellias grown and named prior to 1900, these blooms are classified asantique and we have just added new awards (sponsored by Florence) for this category for our 2012 Camellia Show. If you check the Camellia Nomenclature Book you will find the date of birth of the vast majority of camellias listed. Florence has been travelling all over the world trying to find, identify and propagate these lovely old varieties before they are lost forever. If you think that blooms developed over 100 years ago can’t be all that great... go take a look at Pink Perfection who at over 135 years of age is still competing in Shows and winning! This will be an exceedingly interesting program. Look forward to seeing you there!

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Elaine’s Camellia Slides Dazzle

Elaine Smelley treated all the members present at the October Meeting to a gorgeous selection of camellia slides, showing old and new blooms. Elaine also supplied a lot of information about each bloom, including suitability for growing outdoors and how difficult that particular bloom might be to grow. Lots of people took notes and if there is any bloom you want to propagate by grafting (which is easy to do honest!) let a Board Member know and the Club will see what we can do to have some scions available for a very nominal fee at the February Propagation Meeting. We are trying to encourage members to graft to increase their collections. I was petrified to try it myself until Bill plonked several pots of sasanqua rootstock in front of me and said go to it! And I had a first time 80% success rate! One of the best places to find a new camellia for your collection is at a Camellia Show, make a note of the ones you would like to have, then check with other members of our Club to see who may be able to provide a scion.

BOEHM PORCELAIN CAMELLIA “HELEN BOWER”

Don’t forget about the gorgeous Boehm porcelain camellia Helen Bower which has been donated by Robert Moore and Larry Heard for the Club Raffle which will take place at the close of the January 2012 Camellia Show tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. Tickets are available at our Meetings or from Martha Terry, our Treasurer. I’m hoping to be able to send out a picture of this lovely prize with the December Newsletter.

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Upcoming Camellia Shows......

12 November 2011 – Fort Walton Beach Camellia Club. Westwood Retirement Resort, 1001 N. Mar-Walt Dr. Fort Walton Beach, FL. Open to public 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Blooms may be entered between 8:00 and 10:30 a.m.

19 November 2011 – Mississippi Gulf Coast Camellia Club. Lyman Community Center, 13472 Hwy 49, Gulfport, MS. (4 m.N of I-10) Open to public 2 to 6 p.m. Blooms may be entered between 7:00 and 10:30 a.m.

3 December 2011 – Ozone Camellia Club. St. Mary Margaret Gym, Robert Rd, Slidell, LA. Open to public 2 pm

Blooms may be entered between 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.

10 December 2011 – Pensacola Camellia Club, The Wright Place 1^st Methodist Church, Wright St. Pensacola FL. Open to public 2 p.m. Blooms may be entered between 7:00 and 11:00 a.m.

All these Clubs will be delighted to welcome your camellia entries in their Shows. You’ll see lots of familiar faces at each of these Shows.