In my own garden, I can see that the sun has just come out and is highlighting a particular plant, grab the camera and go. Mount Edgcumbe is a half hour drive away, it is a planned trip and I pretty much have to make the best of whatever the weather comes up with on the day. Wednesday this week looked like it was going to be a good day, and so it turned out. All I had to contend with was flowers thrashing around in the wind, the camera failing to cope with the sun being in and out all day, big differences in light levels between plants in the open and others in shade and dogs suddenly appearing when I’m balancing precariously on a slippery slope trying to capture the perfect shot.
I wandered about, taking video clips of anything that looked good, the took it all home to discover all the bits that were out of focus, hopelessly the wrong colour or unusable for other reasons. No going back to do it again, like I can here. I put the sound track on afterwards because I don’t know until I see it on a big screen which bits of video I will be using. Besides, I would feel a complete idiot talking into a microphone in the middle of a public park. It’s not something that seems to bother young people these days but it bothers me. I got tired of the sound of my own voice at home too, so there is a section where I shut up and let the plants speak for themselves, as they would in the park. I’ve captioned all the varieties with names though.
I apologise then, for the various shortcomings of the video, I am learning, but not as quickly as I once would have. I hope I succeed in convincing you that this is a place worth visiting if you’re in the area. Like local shops, local pubs and much else, it’s a case of use it or lose it with public parks.
Jim's Camellias 
This was a delightful visit. You certainly know camellias. Both my sister and I can’t understand how we have never had one in our yards. This needs to change.
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Hi Jim…..thanks for your postings….I look forward to reading them; I’m looking forward also to viewing some of my favorites eventually. Been on the phone to Jim Nuccio lately…..he’s helped locate some bags of oak leat mold(mulch)…to use in the soil mix I make up for my container camellias. I’ve also been lucky enough to obtain some really nice pine bark mulch listed on the internet…..both items rather difficult to find around here……looks like gonna’ be able to have some pretty nice ingredients for some up potting soil when the time comes. As a side note ….I took your advice on your website where you posted Nuccios Twilight as being one of your favorites….got interested….got the fever….drove 4 hours down to Southern California about a year ago and made the purchase at Nuccios. Beautiful large blooms….the largest in my small camellia jungle…..and like you said…..very bushy foliage….lovin’ it. Keep carrying on with the diary….enjoying it. Best regards, happy holidays…..cheers, Ken.
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Hello Jim, as a camellia enthusiast in Australia albeit nowhere near as well informed as yourself, I was overjoyed to see your video and comments on Mt Edgcombe and other most interesting aspects on camellias generally.
I look forward to following your posts.
I have around 200 camellias myself some of which are more than 30 years old.
Subsequently I have many old varieties and am running out of space for newer.
I also have an old Show Girl and a FlowerGirl ( which sadly I pruned to 2 metres and is now a big thick jungle) and had I known it was a reticulata I wouldn’t have pruned it at all. The labels didn’t show that.
Anyhow, I am thrilled to watch out for your posts in future.
Cheers Jenny
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‘Flower Girl’ is a sasanqua x reticulata cross with more of the sasanqua half evident in its growth habit. There are two plants of it at Mount Edgcumbe, one of which has been pruned quite hard on a few occasions. It is probaby the better for it, the unpruned plant being a very wide spreading sprawling thing.
The collection has quite a lot of old Australian varieties in it. David Trehane, who led the efforts to start the collection in 1976, was a nurseryman and he was trialling many camellias from Australia, New Zealand and America in the 60’s and 70’s, a lot of which ended up getting moved directly from his trial beds to the park. Very few of them have been in commerce here since that time, which is a shame because the best of them would hold their own against anything available now. You’ll find them all in sections 4A – 4G in the picture galleries of Mt Edgcumbe.
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