Camellia granthamiana
11th May 2013
A rare species first discovered in Hong Kong in 1955 and more recently found from a couple of locations
on mainland China. The large white flowers appear in early autumn.
This is a horrible picture, but I have just (last week) obtained a plant and I wanted to record its
presence here. I last grew it in 1985 before the arrival of the internet and there was very little information available.
I was surprised when it produced flowers at the end of august in the blazing heat of summer. The leaves are
variable, but large, glossy and deeply veined are always included in descriptions. I don't have any pictures of the original plant
but as I recall the leaves were larger than this one and looked like they were varnished. It expired in the heavy snows of 1988 and 1989 -
it should be hardy, but a young large leaved plant was ill equipped to cope with 20cm of snow.
I have been hoping to replace it ever since. It is strange that so much delight can be concealed in a crappy photograph.
24th April 2014