Camellias for Everyone Author:Claude Chidamian First Edition — From the ancient temple gardens of China and Japan, through the ornate conservatories of eighteenth-century Europe, to the stately plantation sof our own nineteenth-century South, the camellia has always been a pampered and cherished plant, a living symbol of elegance and aristocracy. And around it have developed legends of myste... more »ry and romance, fancy and fiction that have always made it seem more rare and expensive, more delicate and difficult to grow than it really is.
Today, thanks to a great revival of interest in camellias, gardeners everywhere are rediscovering this plant, not as a rare exotic beyond their gardening skill or means, but as an easy and wonderful evergreen flowering shrub of infinite uses, unbelievable ruggedness, and greater beauty than ever before. A wider variety of flower forms, new hybrids and hard species, improved cultural techniques and devices have pushed the outdoor growing areas of the American camellia belt further north each year. Even in the coldest regions camellias have become a permanent fixture in the home greenhouse. So now for the first time in their long history it is truly possible to write this book. A simple down-to-earth introduction to the most beautiful and valuable evergreen flowering shrub. Its history, varieties, uses, propagation, and culture - indoors and out.« less