With bold blooms that spread cheer through the darker days of our calendar year, the Garden's collection of
Camellia species and cultivars help to carry the cloud forest colors of fall and winter this
year into the magnificent magnolias of the next.
In their native Asia, ranging from the Himalayas to Japan and south to Indonesia, the species we cultivate thrive in a temperate
monsoon climate with a rainy season corresponding with summer. This fact may shed some light on their
bloom period. With elaborate, fairly delicate flowers, it could be that camellias have evolved by
adapting to their native, summer-rainy climate by flowering in the period of their year with less
rainfall. Though water is critical to all life, it can also be a destructive force. To delicate plant
parts, including flowers, falling water can break, tear, and weigh down. It can be "sticky" and fill
narrow spaces through capillary action, making it uninviting to impossible for animal pollinators,
from birds to bees, to access their nectar and other floral rewards.Without these pollinator visits,
the wet flowers will not be fertilized, and the production of fruit and seeds will not occur. Flowers,
along with other plant organs, are expensive to produce. They require significant investments in
energy and in time – also precious commodities for life. With pollinators available during the winter,
camellias and their elaborate flowers may very well stand a better chance of fulfilling their purpose
to bear fruit with seeds – the species' next generation – without the onslaught of rain with which
There are near 300 species of
Camellia endemic to Asia. About 20% of these species have been evaluated and IUCN red-listed
as requiring significant conservation focus, primarily due to deforestation and habitat loss.
With the help of one of Asia's many botanical gifts, the Garden has flowers on display throughout the calendar year. Walk
the Garden this winter to discover other colorful gems from around the world!
IN BLOOM CONTRIBUTORS: Text and Profile by Corey Barnes. Photos by Joanne Taylor and Mona Bourell.