When I feel discouraged, one of the things I often do is go and visit my 91-yr old camellia-obsessed friend, Skip. Yesterday, I made the short pilgrimage to Johns Island and Skip's piece of land that sits along Church Creek. And as always, I left knowing a bit more, and thankfully, feeling a bit better about this world.
I haven't visited Skip in awhile - since the summer. As usual, after I arrived we decided to go for a walk around his 'secret' patch of 600-plus camellias - camellias that he has been growing and propagating on this land since the 1940s. An unusually cold December meant that there was only a smattering of flowers - many of the earlier flowers and more developed flower buds were damaged by December's temperatures that reached into the low 20s several times.
The first thing that Skip wanted to show me was the addition he was making to his camellia garden. He was working on clearing a half acre (or more) on one end of the garden so that next fall he could plant more camellias. His goal was to plant them far enough apart so that they would be able to grow and maintain their natural shape - and not be crowded and mishapen as a result. So he was cleaning out weedy oaks and vines, and cutting up the good wood and stacking it near his house for his fireplace. He had a large stack of wood already cut. Clearing this land was not a trivial undertaking - and although he did say 'I don't know if I'll see these camellias when they're full grown', he nonetheless approaches this project as if he will. It's that part of Skip's character that is contagious: he fills each day with purpose. He doesn't wake up in the morning with reasons to do nothing. I would guess that doing nothing would seem foolish to him and the waste of a perfectly good day.
I marveled at this little piece of newly cleared land during my afternoon visit - and couldn't help but think of all the people I've heard say 'I don't know how long I'll live here, so I don't think it's worth planting a tree.' Then there is Skip - who in his ninety-second year of living is clearing land to start a new camellia garden. That attitude was exactly what I needed after the past few discouraging weeks.
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We walked around the perimeter of the garden - the paths had been cleaned up a bit since my last visit, and old formosa azaleas had been pruned. I imagine that they'll make beautiful arches of color in early spring. I'll have to come back to see that.
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We talked about rain. (Don't all gardeners talk about rain?) We both agreed that although there weren't many blooms, that the foliage looked good - a deep, deep green and there was no sign of drought in the leaves. During the early fall we had received good rain, although the late fall and now early winter have been dry. The dryness was not affecting the camellias (yet) - once established, they're remarkably drought tolerant.
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We'd stop on occasion, especially if there was a flower to see. Often Skip would reach up to grab the branch - and bring the flower down so I could see it. He's used to me wanting to take photographs of his flowers - so he automatically holds them so I can capture the image. He wasn't sure what this camellia was - but of course he said he'd go back and look it up in one of his books. It's rare that we come across one that he doesn't remember the name of - or have a story to share about it's origin or how it happened to find its way into his garden.
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We couldn't resist stopping at this Camellia japonica 'Mathotiana' - the flower's outer petals were probably damaged by the December cold, but the inner petals were protected - the tinge of purple-blue on the edges of the petals occurs when it's cold - and the color was just exquisite.
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Skip paused alongside two larger specimens of Camellia japonica 'White Nun' - a white formal double - and shared with me a story about how this one joined his garden. It was in the late 40s or early 50s, and he had ordered a cutting of 'White Nun' for $10 (which was quite expensive in those days!). It arrived in an envelope without any packaging at all. He said the cutting was in horrible shape and that he didn't think it would make it. But nonetheless he cut the piece in two, and put them into his mostly-sand rooting bed. Amazingly, both pieces rooted - and were now at least 15' tall and had graced his garden for over 50 years.
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~Camellia hybrid (japonica 'Edith Linton' x transnokoensis) 'Sweet Jane'~
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After we walked through Skip's camellia garden, he wanted to show me his 'secret' stash of camellias in pots - those out behind his greenhouses that he had been collecting for awhile, as well as a few that he had put inside the greenhouse before the December cold snap. One camellia that was new to me was the hybrid 'Sweet Jane' - it was simply lovely! The flowers are a loose formal double - and the small plants were literally covered in blooms and flowers.
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~Camellia X 'Egao Corkscrew'
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Another camellia that I had seen in catalogs, but not 'in the flesh' was the corkscrew Camellia with it's double flowers and contorted stems (it was discovered at/by Nuccio's Nursery). The image above doesn't capture the fascinating corkscrew stems - but it is indeed a fun one (it isn't a subtle contortion). Both 'Sweet Jane' and this one have definitely gone on my 'must have' Camellia wishlist...
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So in addition to clearing out a half acre of land (with some help from his son Pete) - Skip is also a propagating fool (and 'fool' here is meant only in the best possible sense!). He is a maniac. A crazy man. He had rooting beds filled with camellias, azaleas, tea olives, hydrangeas and more - he had potted up a bunch of interesting azaleas (from cuttings he had rooted last year) - my favorite 'Rays Rubra' (which I think is the same or similar to the red formosa - it's a deep red almsot wine color that is exquisite) and a light pink flowering azalea with 'spider-like' flowers that were striking.
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And yes - he grafts many of his camellias. I forgot to ask him what rootstock he uses - but the grafted Camellia here is C. japonica 'White by the Gate' which is slow growing with white double flowers (and it's said to have some fragrance). An older camellia I think.
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~Church Creek at low tide~
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We ended our afternoon with a walk out on Skip's dock on Church Creek. I don't think I had ever been there when the tide was this low, and Skip pointed out all of the raccoon tracks in the pluff mud and told me that the raccoons ate well - and he pointed out oysters that they had opened and feasted upon. Low tide reveals a new world - one that is usually hidden by flowing and murky creek waters. As I left, Skip handed me two camellias in pots - 'seedlings' he called them - probably singles (one japonica and one sasanqua). I promised him that I'd plant them right away, and I also promised that I'd be out again in a few weeks, and hopefully by then the buds will have recovered from the December cold (and hopefully no new cold air will rush in). We'll walk his garden again and marvel over the diversity of the blooms and we'll talk about rain and daydream about all of the new camellias that we still haven't grown yet (but hope to).
I left feeling a bit less discouraged, as I expected I would. I'm not sure what could boost one's spirits more than a 91 year old man who is clearing land to plant a new camellia garden. It's that spirit that I long to propagate.
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You can read about some of my past trips to visit Skip and his camellia garden here.
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