It was very cold riding up to Mt Edgcumbe on my motorbike yesterday and with ice about, not much fun. I didn't know what to expect flowerwise. I needn't have worried. Positioned as it is on the west side of Plymouth sound, I doubt whether they ever get frost of any significance. Blossom was to … Continue reading Autumn at Mt Edgcumbe

My regular Mt Edgcumbe Tuesday last week was spent lifting plants from my allotment. I was able to see them in their new quarters today and very good they look too, if I say so myself. A fortnight ago I saw one camellia with a bud a day or two from opening. Today there were … Continue reading It all comes around again

I have had quite a number of camellias growing on the second of my two allotments for the last two seasons. Today was moving day for some of them. More accurately, tomorrow is moving day, today was digging day. Tomorrow they are on their way to join the National Collection at Mt Edgcumbe. This first … Continue reading A good day

I find it hard to regard a day sat at a computer screen as a good or productive day but I have managed to add four new sections of the collection today, while the wind whistled and the rain came and went outside. I have added one further American area, 1K; two Australia and New … Continue reading Mt Edgcumbe update

I have now posted pages for Areas 1P and 2C. In neither case do I have a full set of pictures but most are there. I'm back up there tomorrow with an unpromising weather forecast. I could do with a wet day to force some action on producing labels. We shall see.

Under the tab for Mt Edgcumbe, you will find pages for some of the areas into which the National Collection of Camellias is divided. I have now posted illustrations for most of Area 1G. The reason I started in the middle is simple enough; approaching the collection from the usual car park 1G is the first … Continue reading Mt Edgcumbe, the next stage.

No, not the variety raised by Mark Jury, I refer to myself in my on-going role as a volunteer helping with the National collection at Mt Edgcumbe. Four months on and I have not missed a week. I'd like to think that I've done some good too. I started out checking the various sections of … Continue reading The Camellia Volunteer

Four weeks ago I signed up with Mt Edgcumbe as a volunteer. Volunteers are it seems, making an increasing contribution to keeping public parks going in these days of austerity. I suppose it would be difficult to make a case for public money to be spent on maintaining a national collection of camellias when, in … Continue reading Camellia Volunteer

I've just finished gallery page L. Nearly half way through the alphabet, probably well past halfway on varieties. One letter, so many issues. There's 'Lady Clare', correctly known as 'Akashigata'. She's followed by 'Lady de Saumerez', a solid deep pink derived from the bicolor, 'Tricolor'. Variation due to genetic instability is built in. There is … Continue reading An ending of an ‘L’

I am sometimes asked to identify a camellia that someone has in their garden but doesn't know the identity of. My usual response is along the lines of mmmmm, I'm not sure, it could be this, it could be that. "But you're an expert, I thought you'd know", they say, combining disappointment and accusation, to … Continue reading On identifying camellias.