More Wintergarden Fun

What a wonderful start to our Wintergarden Festival! The blooms at the mall were beautiful. Hats off to the Coastal Carolina Camellia Society for another great job. Hulyn Smith, a great camellia grower in Valdosta, Ga. has donated over 50 Retics and rare camellias to Magnolia. These plants, most of which are over 6' tall, will be going into "The Brenda and Miles Beach Reticulata and Hybrid Garden." Our camellia collection here continues to grow faster than I expected.
This next week-end will be a blast. David Parks, from Camellia Forest Nursery, will be talking about unusual plants for your garden. I have been to David's nursery. He has some really strange stuff. Also, Jim Thornton will talk on " Selecting and Growing Azaleas". We wanted to do this talk early enough for you to purchase azaleas and enjoy them in your own garden. Too many times we buy azaleas in bloom and really do not get to enjoy them for a full year.
Remember, I am giving garden walks every day at 1:00. Learn about camellias and America's last "Romantic Style Garden." Wednesdays, Miles Beach is giving a talk at 11:00 on the history of camellias at Magnolia.
Hope to see you soon.

The camellia people are here

Welcome to all the camellia people . Magnolia is hosting the judge's reception for The Coastal Carolina Camellia Show this week-end. We will be flooded with camellia experts from around the country. Mark Crawford will be teaching classes today on growing camellia in containers, and Bob Black will be talking about other plants for the garden. If you have a question on camellias, this would be a good week-end to come out. I am personally doing a guided tour through the gardens every afternoon at 1:00 starting today.
Join us at The Citadel Mall tomorrow after lunch to enjoy the camellia show. Many blooms of different varieties will be on display.
See yall there.
Tom

What is blooming?

We have a large number of annual and perennial flowers blooming around the gardens in addition to the camellias. Unfortunatly, we have had several nights that the temps fell below 27 degrees. An open bloom is damaged at that temp. and it usually takes about 3 days to recover. We should be in bloom again by Sunday. The orchids and yellow camellias in the conservatory are beautiful now. Do not Forget, the new tours of our African American Cabin project begin in March.

Yellow is the color of the month

One of the main aspects of a Romantic Garden is the element of surprise.We have a great one for you. The first 2 yellow camellias are blooming at Magnolia. Yes--- Yellow. Thanks to David Parks at Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill, NC., and Bobby Green in Fairhope Alabama, We have a collection of yellow camellias. Some are inside the conservatory, Others are planted in the gardens around the conservatory. Several more species of yellow camellias are in the greenhouses and will be ready to plant this fall. If you come to visit us, be sure to look for these rare plants, and also visit the main camellia collection inside the gardens. We have the largest collection of ancient and historic camellias in the nation. As a member of "The Great Gardens of America Preservation Alliance" Magnolia is a major depository for ancient camellia varieties collected from around the world. Magnolia, along with LSU's Burden Center, has 20 varieties we have received from France that have never been in The U.S. before!
Hope to see you soon,
Tom