Camellia Under Glass

The Camellia House at Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island houses 300 Camellias that are putting on a blooming show through March. Although these classic shrubs make one think of lazy days in the southern sun with a mint julep in hand, they comprise an indoor formal garden that is the largest Camellia collection under glass in the Northeast.

The collection was important right from the start when Mr. W.R. Coe, deceased owner of this Gold Coast 353-acre estate-turned arboretum, acquired the Camellias while vacationing on the Isle of Guernsey, off the coast of England, in 1917. When they arrived in America, he placed them, still in their pots, above ground outdoors. On the advice of landscape architect A. Robeson Sargent, a greenhouse was built around them. Five years later, a wing was added to the greenhouse by the Olmsted Brothers, who later landscaped the grounds.

Coe enjoyed his aristocratic plants and shipped them to flower shows, where they won awards. Some rare varieties such Camellia reticulata ‘Captain Rawes’ still survive.

The historic collection is mostly Camellia japonica, with representatives of the smaller-leafed Camellia sasanqua, and the tree-like C. reticulata. Most are heritage plants -- 25% are originals from 1917 and the rest are their descendants. The Camellia House also houses a nursery of new hardy Camellia species, a bank of Clivia and Agapanthus that bloom after the Camellias do, and a few special favorites such as fragrant Daphne odora and fruit-bearing loquat. Vincent Kreutz, horticulture technician 2 who has been at Planting Fields for 24 years, keeps the line of historic plants going by rooting semi-hardwood cuttings.

Enter into the East Wing inhabited mostly by cleanly-pruned tall shrubs of winter-blooming C. japonica. The tea plant, C. sinencis, which produces the green and black tea that we drink, grows here too with thimble-sized white flowers. Large colorful blooms of hot pink petals with white streaks and yellow anthers are the arresting result of a virus that causes variegation. Blue Plumbago vine covers one wall. Baby tears, volunteer holly fern and Kenilworth ivy edge the beds.

Vincent Simeone, executive director of the Arboretum likes the bold form and texture of the foliage almost more than the flowers, he says, especially that of C. chrysantha with its elongated leaves. “If the plant didn’t bloom, it wouldn’t matter.”

Twelve to 15-foot tall specimens of C. reticulata reside in the Center Wing with C. sasanqua, which has already bloomed and is forming buds for next year. The smaller blooms of the hardy camellias display a variety of flower shapes. They are flanked by a show of large white C. japonica ‘alba plena’ blossoms on one side and a large etched lead planter. Ficus pumila, creeping fig, climbs a brick wall above a staircase that overlooks the gardens.

Camellias are native to the mountains of Japan, Korea and China, explains Kreutz, who tries to duplicate those cool, moist conditions by keeping the greenhouse at 45 degrees. Although he strives for a consistent temperature, the warmer air from the cactus wing, located next to the East wing, causes the plants on that side of the greenhouse to bloom first. In the summer, the roof is whitewashed to mimic their natural shady habitat under pine trees, and vents are opened and plants are hosed down to keep them cool. The garden beds are the earth with native soil, a loamy clay frequently raked and top-dressed with peat moss.

The seasons of the Eastern countries are distinct with dry winters when the Camellias bloom and monsoon summers, says Kreutz, and he imitates them too by watering the beds with a sprinkler for two to three hours at a time – once every six weeks in winter and once every three weeks in summer. That’s how long the clay soil holds moisture. Kreutz knows, for he probes it a foot deep to check.

The bushes are trim and clean, pruned every year in April after they flower. Left to grow naturally, they would be 30 feet tall and just as wide. “The collection was overgrown a couple years ago, so we did severe pruning to bring them back,” says Simeone. “We prune out the dead stuff and try to have them so you can see through them,” Kreutz adds. “We keep them airy to prevent fungus and bacterial attacks. If they don’t have good air circulation, the flowers get botrytis.”

One thinks of Camellia as a southern belle and, indeed, up until recent years it was a rare plant that withstood this region’s winters. But hardiness is afoot and Planting Fields is at the fore in introducing the new Zone 7 hardy plants to the outdoors. Actually, the Arboretum contains outdoors test plots where Camellias still thrive from their planting in the 1970s by researchers from North Carolina State University. The 40 year-old plants are being moved into areas where the public can see them.

“We’re making a big push to introduce hardy Camellias as well as growing greenhouse Camellias,” says Simeone. “The gardens were originally planted with spring things like rhododendrons and bulbs, and the Camellias will add to the woodland plantings. We’re big on diversity.”

Peak bloom of the Camellias is the last two weeks of February. Hurry. Don’t miss these regal beauties.

How to grow Camellias in your home:

Keep them cool or the flower buds will fall off before they open. Heat makes the buds blast. Place in a bright East or North window. Too much sunlight causes sunburn. Provide as much humidity as possible. Feed an acidic plant food twice a year – once in April after they bloom and again in July. If potted in a soil-less mix, feed once a month. For hardy Camellias, don’t feed in fall or the tender growth will most likely freeze and die before it hardens. Camellias are shallow rooted, so don’t overpot. Buds for next year’s bloom start in April or May after the current year’s flowers fall off.

Bloom cycle: C. sasanqua – October; C. japonica – November/December with peak at end of February; C. reticulata – throughout winter. Hardy plants outdoors bloom from late February into March.