Flowers: Camellias

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Camellias

The horticultural highlight of winter in the Lowcountry, camellia season is underway

For all the glory of gardenias, jasmine, magnolias, and live oaks bowed under shawls of Spanish moss—all worthy symbols of the South, of course—it’s arguably a foreign import called the camellia that figures most prominently in the firmament of Southern motifs. No flower is more redolent with our region’s grace and tradition than the camellia. Over the years, this iconic bloom has inspired poetry, sparked romance, and even won international favor as tastemaker Coco Chanel’s signature accessory. Perhaps more than any other flower, the camellia celebrates the timeless joys and rewards of cultivating Southern soil.

The camellia came to our shores via Europe from the Orient, and though there’s some debate about just when and where Camellia japonica originally appeared here, South Carolinians contend that famed botanist Andre Michaux bestowed the first on Middleton Place as early as 1786. Within a century, growing these showy evergreen specimens had become a Southern phenomenon.

That enthusiasm endures to this day as, beginning each November, the Lowcountry landscape issues a profusion of these prized blossoms with provocative names like ‘Lady Laura,’ ‘Miss Charleston,’ and ‘Melissa Ann.’

On the following pages, peek into the living portfolios of two local camellia experts whose devoted, deft hands have propagated a remarkable horticultural heritage, further securing the camellia’s rightful place as the reigning Southern emblem.

Rupie Drews

An award-winning James Island gardener who has nurtured his passion for camellias since childhood

“It’s a Southern social must to have camellias in the yard,” says Rupie Drews, a Charleston native and notable authority on the iconic blooms. And he should know; the 77-year-old camellia connoisseur had his own introduction to flowers as a child, learning at his father’s elbow in the nursery he kept at the family’s Hampton Park home. It was also his father who gave Rupie his very first camellia—a spectacular red and white variegated ‘Governor Mouton’—almost 51 years ago when Rupie and his wife Betty settled on James Island.

Yet aside from being a shared special interest with his father, camellias also fascinate Rupie because of their seasonal timing. “In the wintertime, when everything else is dead, here come the camellias... they bloom and show everything else up,” he says. The gifted gardener has been showing camellias for more than 40 years and nurtures his fondness for them daily by caring for the more than 300 varieties currently growing in his garden. “I turned a wonderful hobby into hard work,” he laughs, adding, “But it’s a labor of love.”

A member of several prestigious gardening organizations including the International Camellia Society and the Coastal Carolina Camellia Society, Rupie demurs at the mention of the hundreds of awards his plants have garnered over the past four decades, saying modestly, “I don’t keep count of them.” But his accomplishments don’t stop there as he’s registered five new varieties of camellias with the American Camellia Society, one of which is the ‘Betty Drews,’ a pink miniature with double-cupped petals that Rupie named after his wife. Although he enters competitions only occasionally now, Rupie’s horticultural legacy is alive and bursting into bloom right outside his window. His expertise and enthusiasm for camellias is something he is eager to share, lamenting the decline in gardening as a pastime, especially among young people. If it will create an interest in even one person he’ll gladly curate his collection, share specimens, and dispense growing advice to anyone wanting to learn. “I’d like anyone who’s curious to come to my garden and look and get interested. Everyone’s welcome—and I’ll give them all the blooms they want,” says Rupie. As if that weren’t invitation enough, he also hints, “December through January is the best time to come by.”

Down to a Science
Camellia propagation methods

1. Air layering, an ancient Chinese practice used to propagate new plants, involves stripping bark from a section of branch and applying rooting medium around the girdle. After the new roots have developed, the gardener cuts away a new plant. The tin foil shown at right is used to secure wet sphagnum moss (necessary for growth) to the cut-away bark for a period of several months.

2. Grafting is a common practice for growing a desired bloom using the root qualities of a more hardy, disease-
resistant variety. To do this, a branch from a healthy camellia is secured into the root of the stalk of a hardy camellia. Over a couple of months, the two are grafted together to form a new plant in a makeshift greenhouse, like the paper bags at far right.

Julian Hayes

The late gardener known for his skill in grafting camellias, as well as his generosity with blooms from his Mount Pleasant garden

“Julian was magic in the garden—he could turn anything green,” says Mike Denson of his late friend, neighbor, and mentor Julian Hayes, who passed away in August of 2006. The genteel, longtime Mount Pleasant resident is remembered as much for his gracious ways as for the exquisite specimens abloom in his garden. His almost mythic menagerie of camellias was a great source of joy to the admired gardener, who prided himself on the fact that none were bought—every one a gift or a seedling he grafted himself. “Julian loved camellias because they’re not so finicky. They don’t have to be coddled like other flowers. When the roses finished blooming at the end of summer, he couldn’t wait to get into the camellia garden and get them started,” recalls Denson.

Ten years ago, when Denson moved in next door to the home Julian had owned for more than 60 years, Denson didn’t have a single camellia and his knowledge of them was equally lacking. But having Julian as a neighbor changed all that—his fervor was contagious. It was hard to ignore the 200-plus shrubs of more than 100 varieties of camellias that enlivened his yard.

Raised on a farm in Aurora, North Carolina, Hayes came by his green thumb naturally. The admired “old-school gentleman” retired from his position as an accountant with American Tobacco 35 years ago and, along with travel and a spirited social life, his ambitious garden took center stage. Denson explains, “Anyone who knew Julian recognizes that gardening was essential to him,” recounting the abundant bouquets and arrangements Julian would generously gift to friends and strangers alike—often to the elderly in care facilities. “He enjoyed competing and belonged to prestigious camellia societies, but for Julian it was all about giving and sharing—flowers, advice, information—that was always his sentiment,” Denson reminisces. It seems that, impressive efflorescence aside, the real reward of Julian’s work is the people it brought into his life who were touched by his diligence and remember him so affectionately.

Arranging with Camellias

We asked Heather Barrie-Ahern of Gathering Floral + Event Design to lend insight into arranging with the winter blooms. “Because camellias are such a classic garden flower, other natural elements from the garden typically suit them best,” she says, suggesting that camellias be paired with several different types of foliage, rather than used in more formal, focused groupings. “You want to complement these flowers, not compete with them.” Barrie-Ahern also adds that because full camellia blossoms fall off branches very easily, one of the best ways to enjoy them is to float them in water or a favorite bowl or container.