the camellia journal

 “My father was Norman Hall; he was co-Captain of Tulane’s only winning Sugar Bowl team”, she said.

The American Camellia Yearbooks of the 1950s were a treasure trove of information about great old camellia collections. While Stephanie and I had perused them as we acquired every volume, it was an idea generated at the Northshore Camellia Club that got us back into them. Stephanie volunteered to give mini book reports on the old editions, starting from their first publication. She would read the articles out loud to me as we were driving from place to place (an hour each way to Camellia Heaven in Metairie, Louisiana) and take notes for the next meeting. An interesting camellia collection she read about was the Crosby estate in Picayune, Mississippi. (“The Crosby Garden”, Joseph Pyron, American Camellia Yearbook, 1962-63, pg. 15.) We decided to try to find it.

Clearly the obvious was that it should be part of the Crosby Arboretum. We arrived on a dull wintry day at the empty Crosby Arboretum, only a single car was there. We looked around and saw not a single bloom; not even one camellia. Speaking with the attendant there, we learned there were no camellias. This was a nature preserve of mostly native plants. She was unaware of where the Crosby camellias might be. And with that bad news, we did what unhappy people often do; we went shopping.

Over the years we heard the camellias were downtown in a park, that they were in a private collection or that their location was unknown. One lead came from the owners of a wonderful property in Picayune at which my business partner’s daughter was married. They thought someone with Mossy Motors owned that property. When I contacted the dealership, the Mossy people were unaware of who that might be. The wedding venue, The Henry Smith House, was unique itself with many old camellias including a ‘Shishigashira’ over six feet high, along with a large ‘Governor Mouton’, ‘Aunt Jetty’ and some other old favorites that were not blooming at the time.

At an Ozone Camellia Club meeting, I was speaking with Jane Halley of Picayune, Mississippi and told her of my “bucket list” of old camellia gardens I wanted to find. To my surprise, she knew of the property, she knew the owners, and she offered to arrange for a call between us. They, and the place, were very private. After years of searching, the garden may have been found. After a quick call, a visit was arranged to the private, locked, and dog-patrolled, estate. As I later learned, the Mossy connection was correct, as a neighboring property was owned by a lawyer and part owner of Mossy Motors.

The gracious couple met us on the driveway of a National Register of Historic Places home constructed in 1858 by Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Crosby, Sr. and expanded over time. This historic site began as an Indian settlement. It was operated as a trading post as flat boats on the Hobolochitto River plied their way north and south. Several owners came into possession of the property including Eliza Jane Poitevent Nicholson. Eliza, a poet and the first woman publisher of a newspaper, the present New Orleans Times-Picayune, is credited for naming Nicholson, Mississippi for her husband as well as naming the town of Picayune, Mississippi.

The estate grew as well from 640 acres to over 6,000 acres. After surviving the war, the Hermitage (apparently named after Andrew Jackson’s home in Nashville, Tennessee) was consolidated into a 1.5-million-acre lumber operation by Crosby and Lamont Rolands. The Goodyear Yellow Pine Lumber Company still has large holdings to this day. Along with this forest and buildings thereon, was another 100,000 acres of tung oil trees. Tung oil tree seeds were processed as the source of oil for high quality oil-based paints and for light lubricants. During World War II, tung oil lubricants were used in propeller planes to conserve petroleum-based lubricants for fuel and other purposes.

Great gardens, from the East to the West seemed to be special creations of lumber barons. Whether the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, Alfred B. Maclay Gardens in Tallahassee, Florida, Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama or the Crosby estate in Picayune, Mississippi, wonderful gardens were established by the lumbered gentry. It is also said, the Crosby gardens were designed by the same designer as Bellingrath Gardens. In its heyday, the grounds included a nine-hole golf course, tennis court and an Olympic sized pool as well as other amenities.

The Crosby family members were generous contributors to the area providing funding for a hospital, paying teachers, and donating the arboretum property to the city. Mrs. Crosby died in 1993 and the property was divided up, including 97 acres awarded to the Crosby’s company secretary. Additional special history includes the cemetery where George Washington Ross, a plantation worker, is buried. Ross was the nephew of the seamstress of our nation, Betsy Ross.

All this, and we haven’t even talked about the camellias. but there is more history to tell. When making the trip to Picayune, Harriet and Keric Buckner, members of the Camellia Club of New Orleans, joined me as they often do on these camellia hunts. While chatting with the owners, we commented that Keric and I both graduated from Tulane University. “My father was Norman Hall; he was co-Captain of Tulane’s only winning Sugar Bowl team”, Lynne Burger said. Keric lit up and added, “my father was Norman Buckner and was co-captain with your father, they were best friends.” The camellia world can often be a small one. Talk continued including Norman Hall’s participation in the creation of the “rag”; the ceremonial

flag awarded to the winner of the Louisiana State University-Tulane game. Apparently, Norman and the captain of the LSU team made a bet as to which team would win. When LSU won, their captain came to the Tulane locker room to exact his “pound of flesh”—in this case a piece of cloth from the butt of Norman’s game pants. Armed with scissors, the square of cloth, later dubbed the “rag”, came into existence. Years later it was replaced by a flag half blue and half purple with each school’s logo.

Wow! What a treat! And now, to visit the blooms. Sasanquas lined the driveway to the property and camellias were also evident on neighboring properties, but this was “the” place. The start of it all. Camellias were all along the walking paths. Many were the typical varieties of the times like ‘Governor Mouton’, ‘Purple Dawn’, ‘Elizabeth’, ‘Debutante’, etc. and numerous sasanquas which had already ceased blooming. Several were in poor condition as years of flooding water-ravaged their trunks and set them to rotting.

Then we spotted what was clearly a seedling; its caliper was too small to be from original plantings, and the owners had not added any plants in this area. It was about seven feet tall with a beautiful, but old bloom. We told Lynne that it appeared worth registering and we would return to propagate and take pictures when more perfect blooms were available. But the real finds were along a path to the rear where the varieties were identified by some old signage—‘Ville De Nantes’, ‘Mrs. Hooper Connell’, and ‘Scent-ed Treasure’, but more importantly ‘Olive Elizabeth’, originated by T. S. Clower of Gulfport, Mississippi, and “Turner’s #31”. I showed a picture of this latter bloom to Colonel Richard Hooten of Pensacola, Florida, who was knowledgeable about the Pensacola Turner creations. However, it did not strike him as anything already named and registered. Clearly, a special find.

In another area were two huge ‘Masterpiece’ plants. We commented about that variety’s tendency to bullnose, and Lynne told us she has never noticed the problem. Another special variety was found amidst the sasanquas on the driveway. It appeared to be ‘Snowball’, a peony like a ‘Professor Charles S. Sergeant’ but white. Many other camellias, some blooming, some not, covered the grounds.

The Hermitage was but one of the properties in this exclusive estate area with camellias, and next blooming season, we will see about visiting some of the neighbors. The day was a huge success—old varieties found, an unknown creation found, many seedlings with buds to evaluate, history revealed, and a special story of family to cherish.