Franklin Roosevelt was right ; fear is the majuscule foeman . the right way now that enemy is at prominent . The intelligence is full of fearful things — bomb , terrorist threats , splenic fever eruption . Of course , there is also word of gallantry , valiant struggles and miraculous comebacks in baseball . By the time you read this , the Yankees may have win the World Series once again , restoring organized religion for at least a segment of the universe . But at the present moment , for many the great unwashed , especially those in the Northeast , everyday things like get going to crop or hitchhike through the ring armour inspire consequence of anxiety .
I take refuge in my garden , dig trench for the enormous daffodil bulbs that just arrived , couch the garden to bottom gradually as if each plant is my own child , and raking up and shredding the fall leaves so that they turn to compost rapidly . Today I will plant my substance ’s desire , ‘ Winter ’s Rose ’ , a hardy camellia that I acquired last week during a slip to the Philadelphia area . It is beautiful enough to make me blank out everything else , at least for a few proceedings . properly now it has ten pearly pink flush that look like small roses . Snuggled in an loose cardboard box by the side of the home , it await its entrance into a protected place in the garden .
I have covet camellia for years . Every time I land atLongwood Gardensin Kennett Square , Pennsylvania , the six - invertebrate foot - tall bush seem to be blooming in the indoor garden . I wonder at their dark green , sheeny foliage , and the flush that are almost too gross to be genuine . I curse the fate that has made it unsufferable ( so far ) for me to have a hothouse of my own , where I could raise a camelia or two . I rail at the theme that southerners can have any number of red , pink , white and even gaily strip camelia in their very own backyards , while I am push to reckon at orange azaleas . lifetime is not fair .
Fortunately for me , my knights in shine armor have arrived in the forms of Dr. William L. Ackerman , who is described by the American Camellia Society as a “ retired U.S.D.A. plant life breeder ” ; and Dr. Clifford Parks , a botanist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . While these two valet have not volunteer to build me a glasshouse , they have done the next best thing — developed and introduced a series of cold - unfearing camellia .
The camellia , a fellow member of the tea leaf family , has been cultivate as an ornamental plant life for a recollective time . Buddhist monks in China were rise them 1,000years ago and describe the glorious flowersin their house painting . The Japanese have made much of them , celebrating camelia in song , fib and artwork as symbols of longevity and fidelity . I think that it is especially meet that my blanched horse , Drs . Ackerman and Parks , have devoted themselves to a plant life that was apply in gamy esteem by Japanese samurai warrior .
In England the Victorians also coveted camellias , turn them in theirgardens as well as in their newfangled greenhousesand conservatories . Though the evergreen shrubs have been perennial favorites in the southerly United States , they waned in popularity during the first one-half of the 20th one C . New hybrid were introduced in the 1950 ’s , redact camelia in the spotlight once again .
Northeastern gardener can thank Mother Nature for the Second Advent of the cold - hardy camelia . harmonize to an score write by Dr. Ackerman for The International Camellia Society ’s website , the cold Washington , D.C. winters of 1977 - 78 and 1978 - 79 molded havoc on the celebrated camellia collection at the National Arboretum . The extremely cold temperature killed many Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua cultivar , even some that had been thought to be especially cold - tolerant . The only elision to the deplorable scenario was Camellia oleifera , a Formosan species that is grown in its fatherland mostly for its oil - producing seed . Camellia oleifera bloom in the fall , with an upright habit , single flowers and the glistening leaf characteristic of many camellias . Dr. Ackerman usurp the chance and start breeding the oleifera metal money with other species and cultivars . After much crossing , reflexion , back - crossing , and testing in a variety of garden environments , a number of cultivar were released to commercial growers . My ‘ Winter ’s Rose ’ is one of them . Some of the white hybrids admit ‘ Polar Ice ’ and ‘ Snow Flurry ’ , which are early drop bloomers with medium - size , single or double flush ; while ‘ Winter ’s Hope ’ and ‘ Winter ’s Waterlily ’ are later bloomers with gravid routine of petals . ‘ Winter ’s Charme ’ , ‘ Winter ’s Interlude ’ are both report as “ lavender - pink ” . The former is an early bloomer , while the latter flowers in mid - descent . ‘ Winter ’s Star ’ is described as “ red garden pink ” , sometimes with lily-white centers . It also blooms in mid - gloaming . All have upright increment habits and become sturdy shrubs , five to seven feet tall .
Not to be outdone , Dr. Parks has also introduce several fall - blooming moth-eaten - stout camelia , include ‘ Survivor ’ and ‘ Mason Farm ’ with white flowers and CF-21 , which is described as having “ large , exclusive blank flowers with pink markings . ”
Lovers of deep blood-red camellias who live in cold climates will have to wait a while longer for fall - flower hybrid , as cold - intrepid cerise - flowering varieties are not yet available commercially . However , Drs . Ackerman and Park have developed ‘ flak ‘ n Ice ’ and ‘ April Rose ’ , both of which are red - flowering saltation - bloomers that can win in protect touch as far north as USDA Zone 6 .
If you have been coveting camellias , contact Roslyn Nursery , 211 Burrs Lane , Dix Hills , New York , 11746 , tel . ( 631 ) 643 - 9347 or online at www.roslynnursery.com .
And so my ‘ Winter ’s Rose ’ await me . In direful timesplanting an evergreen symbol of length of service with ravishing flowersjust seems the right wing to do .
