Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

The 2013 Crinum Road Trip

 

Crinum x powellii 'Alba'

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We all have our traditions - some are traditional (like a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner) and some are less so.  A slowly-developing-into-a-tradition (almost) annual event for me is the three hour drive up to Beech Island to visit Jenks Farmer and wander around his gardens - especially his field of crinums.  The annual Crinum Road Trip.  I always return home after a wonderful visit with a few stories... and of course a lovely crinum.  An obvious benefit to this tradition is that my own garden now is graced with a growing number of crinums - deep pinks and light pinks and white with pink strips and now solid white.  I don't have a favorite - they are all perfect.

So I thought I'd share with you images from my Crinum Road Trip of 22 June 2013.

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My two previous Crinum Road Trips (in order to gain critical historical, aka hysterical, perspective):

Crinum Road Trip 2009

Crinum Road Trip 2010

(Note - I didn't go in 2011 and 2012 due to that moving-up-to-northern-Virginia-thing for a temporary federal job).

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Some of the Crinums that have been added to my garden over the years (in addition to 'Alba', above) as a direct result of Crinum Road Trips:

Crinum 'Hannibal's Dwarf'

Crinum 'Parfait'

Crinum 'Ellen Bosanquat'

Crinum 'Regina's Disco Lounge'

Beauties, aren't they?

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All good crinum road trips should begin with a stop at a boiled peanut stand... right?  This one was at the intersection of the ever-lovely Highway 17 South and South Carolina Highway 174 (the road to Edisto) - it was in front of the "crocked house."  Everyone knows the "crooked house" is where you turn to go to Edisto.

(Note "One-Eyed Pete" - the skull - and the hanging "redneck fly swatter").

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We went a different way to Beech Island this time - and went through some towns now quiet since I-95 took all of the traffic away.  One such town was Allendale, South Carolina - where we found this incredible sign for the Lobster House Restaurant.  Isn't it the absolute best?  I want the sign for my front yard.  I would care for it.  

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Finally... we arrived!

Have you ever heard of a Field of Dreams?  Well, a Field of Crinums is the same thing - just with more color.

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Crinums, crinums, crinums... and more crinums!

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Here is the fun, talented King of the Beech Island Crinums, Jenks Farmer - who is the absolute best.

(Now I do have a question for Jenks:  if I get a Beech Island crinum and take it to coastal South Carolina to plant in my garden, is it no longer a local crinum?  Isn't that... bad???  Am I participating in the degradation of the planet by planting a non-local crinum????  It's all so complicated, isn't it?)

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Perhaps everyone needs sunflowers painted on the side of a building in their garden, with a bright blue bike leaning up against it?

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And - why yes... Regina's Disco Lounge is the name of a lovely crinum - and is the namesake of a charming building (above) and a kick-ass t-shirt (worn quite well by Tom in the photograph below).

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Isn't this mosaic-window beautiful?  The bottoms of bottles ring the window.  So, so fun.

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A summer solstice bonfire... ready to be lit.

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A closer view of the bonfire... beautiful, isn't it?  It's art I think.

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Yes, I left with plants (I always leave with plants).  Alovely white crinum (Crinum x powellii 'Alba') and this exquisite Boehmaria (which has doubled its size since I planted it in my garden a month ago).

Boehmaria, Japanese False Nettle

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Now, the Crinum Road Trip is always an adventure - and filled with discovery.  During this trip I learned that there was an old, beautifully unmaintained allée behind the field of crinums that leads to Redcliffe Plantation - and an old, beautifully maintained allée.

  
~an old, beautifully unmaintained allée~

 

~an old, beautifully maintained allée~

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Now, historically on Crinum Road Trips, there is generally at least one stop by a pond or lake filled with lily pads.  How could we deny the force of history?  These were found floating atop Furse Pond, which was a wonderfully mysterious place.

 

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Part of the mystery of Furse Pond is dam-like structure by the road - with all of the rain we've been having, it was of course spilling over (it was deeper than it looks in the photograph.  Trust me, it was spooky.  I mean - bodies are in there somewhere, tangled up in something).

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My crinum road trip companion, Jeff, couldn't resist practicing the perfect dismount at Furse Pond, named after - yes, the Furse family.  There is a Furse Cemetery nearby.  I think Furse Mill Creek might feed this pond.   A friend told me this is a good pond for wintering ring-necked ducks and coots.  Now it's a good backdrop for a balance beam act.

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We found it!

The Pon Pon Chapel of Ease - a lovely place, down a dirt road (and another) - and the summer home of prosperous and happy and quietly spiritual mosquitos.

Many, many prosperous and happy and quietly spiritual mosquitos.

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~Coastal Tall Thistle, Cirsium nuttallii~

(Thanks to Naturescapes of Beaufort, SC for the ID of this beautiful thistle - and yes, I need to make it down there.  I promise I will soon.  I did collect thistle seed, and tossed them around my garden.)

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Now, we are all familiar with the phrase 'impulse buy'...  As Jeff and I were on the home stretch of our crinum road trip, we couldn't resist stopping at Farmhouse Antiques and Neat Stuff along Highway 17... where Jeff became immediately enamored of the guitar-playing Mexican Jumping Beans (which he later discovered were guitar-playing Jalapenos - even better!).  While I know that you are probably thinking 'how could anything be better than a guitar-playing Jalapeno?', Jeff purchased a funky-good pink flamingo and I departed with a white egret (with a fish in it's mouth). 

A three foot tall metal white egret.

With a fish in it's mouth.

And it wasn't even playing a guitar.

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So once I again I would like to say a big thank you to Jenks and Tom, who opened their crinum-filled garden so that once again we could go on a Crinum Road Trip.  I'm not sure what it is exactly about this little tradition, but all I can say is that I laugh for most of it, am always in awe of how beautiful the crinums are, and I always see something new.  And I always return to plant something in my own garden which makes me happy.

~Tom and Jenks~

 

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~a few hours spent with camellias~

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I spent a few hours this afternoon with Skip, my 90-something year old obsessed camellia-growing friend.  It was cold this afternoon - and the sun was shining as I started out to his place, but by the time I got there clouds had rolled in and it was windy and quite a bit colder.  We first wandered an area he calls 'the hideaway' where he has camellias in pots that he uses for propagation - there's always a mix of new and old in there, and always something in bloom that I've never seen.   Camellia japonica 'General Coletti' and 'Powderpuff' were two new ones from today.  I hope to get back to his place in two weeks, during my spring break from teaching my undergraduate course.

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Camellia japonica 'Mary Wheeler'

I went for a quick visit to Skip's camellia garden last week, and he showed me this lovely bloom of Camellia japonica 'Mary Wheeler'.  He said that it was always his wife's favorite camellia.  This camellia was hybridized by Wheeler's Central Georgia Nurseries and was introduced in 1957.

It's lovely, isn't it?

~a blue camellia and the New Deal~

~my favorite camellia-grower~

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I spent New Year's Eve afternoon once again wandering a camellia garden with my friend Skip.  He was doing well (let's face it - beyond well - he never ceases to amaze me), and as always, I saw camellias in bloom that I hadn't seen before.

While his son was preparing a lunch for us, we headed toward Skip's main camellia garden.  We had a warm New Year's weekend in South Carolina - upper 60s to low 70s - can't complain about that!  The camellias looked good, although because of the unusually warm fall (coastal South Carolina hasn't had a hard frost yet, much less a hard freeze, as of New Year's weekend) I think that some different-than-normal camellias were in bloom.  But then, each time I visit I see a camellia that I haven't seen, and I learn something new.

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Roosevelt Blues... aka 'Frankie Bray'.  Skip told me that this cultivar was named by a person who thought the camellia was unattractive, and so he named it after President Roosevelt because he was unhappy about the New Deal.  So in essence, he named a camellia he didn't like after a President he didn't like.  I believe that Skip said it was Robert Rubel who named it - a name known by most camellia folks.  Interestingly, according to Architecture Research, many of Rubel's camellias ended up somewhere in South Carolina (and I'm guessing Middleton Place or Magnolia Gardens - I'll have to look into this):

Between 1931 and 1932, Rubel sold thirteen carloads of collected specimens to one South Carolina customer, a transaction that he believed to be the largest sale of camellias since their introduction to Europe in the early eighteenth century. The meticulous plantsman sold his camellias with embossed copper labels attached to each plant, so that the tag could serve as a permanent means of correct identification.

[The image that I took of it (above) doesn't look quite as blue as it does 'in person', but you can still see hints of blue - it was quite beautiful, and not unattractive at all - but then I would have probably voted for Roosevelt.]

banana at Moore Farm (more images to come)

~a young man's camellia obsession~

 ~a path in Skip's camellia garden (5 March 2011)~

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What is it about obsession and youthfulness?

Perhaps the obsession keeps one from, well, obsessing over stupid things and working themselves into a frenzy, hence protecting synapses... perhaps being obsessed about something, anything, keeps you you too busy to care about your own mortality (I mean, me...die?  But I have more roses to plant.  I most definitely don't have time to die today.)

 
This is my camellia-obsessed friend, Skip, holding the camellia that he said was his wife's favorite - 'Mary Wheeler'.

He turned 92 years old this week. 

Wait, I'll rephrase - he turned 92 years young.  I now know why one says that - it's reserved for the kind of person who several months before their 92nd birthday  decide they need a new (and larger) chainsaw because - of course - they must use it atop a 20' ladder because they have to cut down branches that are producing too much shade over the camellias.

Makes perfect sense, don't you think?

~chinese or lacebark elm~

 
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Ulmus parvifolia, Chinese or Lacebark Elm - image taken on the 2nd of January 2011, on a rainy day visit to Johns Island and a special camellia garden~

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~a special camellia garden~

 
 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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Botany Bay... almost.

 
The road to Botany Bay, Edisto Island.  I was there two weekends ago, hoping to walk down to the beach - but there was a manged hunt underway, sponsored by the SC Department of Natural Resources.

Next time (and I'll check the schedule first!).

Boat ride to Bulls Island...

 
So...what's up?

Yesterday I went on a tour of Bulls Island - a place I haven't visited since back in 2006.  It was beautiful - expansive and wild and much loved.  I could have moved out there, into the house, and probably been fine for a good long while (or, at least, until I was kicked off the island and forced to swim to shore).

Thought I'd stop by here for a minute.  But just for a minute.

The weather has been beautiful - October is wonderful here, and I can't seem to get enough of it.  Today I planted savoy and stonehead cabbages, bok choy, kale, swiss chard and some lettuces - the (late) start to my fall garden.  Still have two types of garlic, shallots and red onions to plant - and I need to find some brocolli plants and get those in the ground.  I also need to find a few bales of straw, to mulch everything with - mulching is key.

Hope everybody is doing okay.  Will catch up soon - as soon as this beautiful weather wanes.  But for now, forgive me, but I just want to enjoy it.

 
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