Something About Seedlings – Part 2

To all that knew her, my wife Stephanie was special indeed – caring, loving, a friend to all and interested in nearly everything. Camellias, collecting, preserving, growing and showing became the activity that bound us together; the activity that would keep us going after retirement with an endless ”something to do”. She worried that once I retired I wouldn’t know what to do and would languish. Our first seedling, 'Atkins’ Gift' would have been named 'Atkins’ Gift to Stephanie' had more than 3 words been allowed. So seedlings were an important part of our camellia life early on. Stephanie would gather seeds from 'Shikibu,' a prolific seeder, as well as others and tend them in our first cold frame. Naming varieties for wives seems natural for camellia men; naming varieties for Stephanie was my imperative.

But let’s get back to the basics. Seedlings are amazing we all know; obtaining the seeds is really easy if you know what to look for. The pods appear in late summer and look like green cherries, small pears or apples – some will have shades of red (just like an apple) or brown and some are even fuzzy. Even others are misshaped nearly like a question mark or crooked gourd. The smallest are usually the seeds of sasanquas (or species like tea plants) and they are nearly as plentiful as their flowers. The fuzzy ones usually have some reticulata parentage (even if found on a sasanqua or japonica). But it’s not the outside that counts. 

The pod is mostly pulp – like apple seeds are deep inside an edible fruit protective covering, camellia seeds lie inside that pulpy pod. The seed pods will dry out in July through September and drop their seeds naturally on the ground. Once I see that pods start opening naturally, I pick all the pods I desire and open the seed pods myself, harvesting a myriad of seeds for growing. I don’t take the chance of them falling to the ground and washing away or drying out. The seeds are a dark red brown to black and can be small and perfectly rounded, or more cycle shaped. Some pods will have a single seed while others up to 7 seeds (that’s the maximum I have ever found). If the seeds are still white, they were immature and will not develop; they were picked and opened too early. By waiting until the first seeds are opening by themselves, most all the seeds inside are ready for germination. If not planted immediately, store in a baggy in the refrigerator. The seeds dry out easily and won’t germinate.

Camellia Heaven has provided lots of seeds for growing. And then, there are many wild seedlings that began growing under the mature plants. These spilled from the drying, cracking pods and landed in the mulch or fallen leaves. This new home provides a spot for the seeds to stay damp and some shade and an opportunity to sprout. Some pods and their seeds find their way to the strangest places, sometimes thanks to squirrels and other critters that plant them as a future food source. Two Japonica seedlings are growing next to my pergola despite no Japonicas being in that immediate vicinity – only tea plants and the species brevistyla. Somehow they migrated to the locations where they are currently happily growing. They will have to be removed, however, and replanted elsewhere. Streams or other flowing waters can also move seeds far from their parent plants. The strangest location I’ve ever seen for a seed to germinate was at Rosedown, an historic garden and home site in St. Francisville, La. The American Camellia Society visited there as part of their yearly convention. While walking around, there was a camellia growing out of an oak tree – the immediate shock was how could a camellia be successfully grafted to an oak? On closer review, it was clear that a camellia seed had imbedded itself in a V-shaped branching of the oak and grown in the moist soil and organic matter that had gathered there. It had attained a good size and formed a union of bark that made it look like a graft. Seedlings can turn up anywhere – what fun.

Camellia Heaven’s seedlings include both those growing there wildly and those acquired. The most memorable is a mauve formal double with often incurved petals and vegetative striping. It is most nearly perfect, when its petals line up exactly right, it looks like a mauve striped star. We frequently brought blooms of it to the Tangipahoa Master Gardner Association Camellia Stroll at the Hody Wilson Garden in Hammond. Visitors were not permitted to pick blooms from the trees there, so to distinguish blooms that might have been picked, we brought things that did not exist in the garden. The blooms were given to children that needed something to do as their parents enjoyed the blooms, so they were a reward for picking up pine cones that had fallen and were potential tripping hazards. Those blooms were a favorite. Some asked for it to be grown for them and we planned the name Star of Heaven as its name. When Stephanie died, I decided its name would be 'Stephanie’s Heavenly Star.' Because of requests for it, 'Stephanie’s Heavenly Star' is now in test by a commercial nursery and if all goes well (propagation success and growth meeting their benchmarks), it will be made available at local camellia shows, the camellia stroll, and at nurseries to which they sell. Their initial test of 30 went well for rooting and another 60-90 are being stuck this year.

The fascination with seedlings that grew at Camellia Heaven lead to the acquisition of seedlings from other sources; some nurseries and gardens sold their seedlings as memories of the visit and/or naming or grafting. Over the years, Camellia Heaven became the home to many of these acquired with the rights to name them as we pleased as well as those of hybridizers or seedling growers wanting their creations to have a home at the preserve. Many unnamed seedlings exist at Camellia Heaven that cannot be shared at this time. Several other camellias were given to me to name for Stephanie by friends. Five camellias were named (or will be) that were Bobby Green seedlings. The original mother plant that Bobby released as Five Inch Flower was acquired with naming rights. It was 9 feet tall and when it arrived at Camellia Heaven, two of us had to stand on the back of the tractor to balance its weight. It is a sasanqua that produces a 5 inch bloom, atypical of sasanquas. It was named 'Stephanie’s Super Nova' (pictured). 'Stephanie’s Crimson Star,' a red formal double with pointy petals and 'Stephanie’s Tiny Star,' an award winning hybrid, were also named in 2019; a fourth, to be named 'Stephie' (her nickname as a child) was a peony version of 'Stephanie Golden' and 'Bobby’s Stephanie Pink,' which he did not intend to grow further, will be registered as 'Stephanie’s Soft Pink' (thank you Bobby). The 'Stephie' which Bobby gave me has yet to bloom at Camellia Heaven and remains a plant to be named in the future. Johnny Despeaux, a friend who acquired a large collection that Stephanie and I helped tag and who also got hooked on seedlings (planted 10,000 seeds several years – he has a number of interesting seedlings that have already bloomed) offered me a choice of two seedlings I had seen on his property to be named for Stephanie. For 'Stephanie Cassagne Grimm,' I selected a mauve, undeveloped semi-double. A real stunner, it has won as best seedling at the New Orleans camellia show. A variegated version, through grafting, is an interesting addition as well. 'Stephanie’s Crimson Star' was planned to be named 'Stephanie C. Grimm;' however, another friend, Sharon Smith (daughter of camellia grower W.L. Smith), offered a seedling I had selected from their seedling field (now mostly destroyed). I had planned to name it for one of their family members (that will be a future story in the American Camellia Society Journal), but she said name it for Stephanie. A frosted, single Japonica, which has also been named best seedling, it will be registered when pictures are available showing its unique frosted appearance. I did manage to slip in a Reticulata seedling for myself; it was acquired from the seedling patch of the Wheeler nursery (Central Georgia Nurseries) in Macon, Georgia; they grew and sold hundreds of seedlings. 'John L. Grimm' is a big, pink semi-double. Another camellia, a yellowish/cream colored formal double, was given to me to name for myself. 'John Lloyd Grimm,' has also found its way to the nomenclature thanks to Dr. Richard Strobach. More about his fabulous collection, the original Patin garden, which boasts not only a huge selection of camellias collected from countrywide and lovingly restored by the Strobachs, but also has a myriad a seedlings I am helping him to name. More about them and others I have helped get their creations named in the next issue. Boy are seedlings fun!!!