Seattle is on the Move!
It started as a vision for a year of horticulture education focused on the camellia, but the seeds of camellia enthusiasm that germinated, have grown into a NEW camellia society.  Friends and fellow Garden Club of America colleagues Diana Neely and Barbara Tuffli, while discussing Diana’s next years horticulture program as Horticulture chair of the Seattle Garden Club (SGC), designed a curriculum that started in the fall with a workshop on propagating camellias which are performing particularly well in the members’ gardens.  There was a lesson on gibbing and disbudding.  The Seattle Garden Club even specified a class in their spring flower show for the propagations.  Propagation stories sprouted up all winter.  In the spring, Barbara Tuffli returned to instruct the SGC members how to show camellias “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” in anticipation of the SGC’s first camellia show.  All decked out in camellia accessories, Debby Smith, a SGC new transfer, also took the stage using a PowerPoint presentation to help her spread her re-found love of the camellia. She said "I grew up with camellias in Pasadena, I was thrilled to find them again when I relocated to Seattle and transferred to the Seattle Garden Club. The Horticulture Committee was actively involved in camellia education.  I find the camellia beautiful, all the colors and varieties, especially the new ones I've discovered like the yellow."

As April 2nd approached there was a little trepidation as to what would be in bloom in April.  The new budding group of camellia enthusiasts had never before charted the blooming times of their camellias.  The Pacific Northwest’s climate is much like that of England. Summer temperatures are rarely above the 85 degree Fahrenheit range and winter lows in coastal areas will go down to 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit in mild winters or as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit in the coldest winters. The Sasanquas flower in September or October and bloom off and on throughout the late fall and early winter.  During mild winters Japonicas will start blooming early January and sometimes as early as Christmas.  The oldest camellias in the Seattle area are estimated to be close to 125 years old. Among early favorites which have proven to be cold hardy were ‘Cheerful’, ‘Purity’ and ‘Tricolor’.  The peak of the season is April so the date of the show was just perfect. The camellia requires very little special attention and faces few enemies in the Pacific Northwest.  The colors of the camellias blooming in the winter and spring provide wonderful colors that are lacking from otherwise cloudy gray skies.  The camellia show participants only hoped that their prized blooms would not be spoiled from rain or frost.

Inspired by the Ocala Camellia Show, the three new novice judges Dinah Hutchinson, Debby Smith and Diana Neely encouraged their fellow SGC members as they picked and prepared their blooms for the April 2nd show which would be the culmination of the year’s educational activity.  That morning, forty nine first-time exhibitors arrived at the crack of dawn to enter their blooms.  American Camellia Society judges Barbara Tuffli and Fran Newman were joined that morning by the three novices to painstakingly judge the many blooms presented to them by enthusiastic SGC members.  A large number of the prize-winning blooms were actually from the University of Washington Botanic Garden’s own collection and had been picked with the assistance of the SGC ladies.

Gregory E. Davis, President of the International Camellia Society and Past President of the American Camellia Society, talked about the UWBG’s camellia collection in his article, “A Treasure of Vintage Camellias in Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, Washington” published in the 2004 American Camellia Yearbook.  According to Greg, “This camellia collection is a researcher’s dream. The plants are healthy, well labeled, and most are camellia varieties that are no longer in substantial commercial distribution. They are proven to be garden-worthy plants by their longevity in Washington Park Arboretum. Provided the ACS DNA identification project materializes, this collection could make a major contribution to the DNA library of vintage varieties.

The collection reflects the camellia varieties that were popular on the West Coast of the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s. Only 11 varieties in the collection were developed (registered) after 1960. Three of these are ‘Ack-Scent Sno’, ‘Ack-Scent Star’ and ‘Ack-Scent White’. These are C. lutchuensis hybrids developed by Dr. William L. Ackerman in 1981. They all are reported to have a sweet fragrance.

Dr. Ackerman, who lives in Ashton, Maryland, says he is pleased to know that these plants are still in the Arboretum collection. To his knowledge, the ‘Ack-Scent Sno’ and the ‘Ack-Scent Star’ are the only plants of these varieties in existence.”

 Randall Hitchin, collections manager, in a collaborative effort with SGC members, was awarded several ribbons for blooms from the Arboretum’s collection. While SGC members were waiting for the show to be judged, Randall led them on a tour of the Arboretum’s extensive camellia collection which was at the peak of its bloom.

Members, guests and visitors were given show programs with combined ACS/Seattle Camellia Society membership forms (all Seattle Camellia Society members will also be members of ACS), membership detail, and a Camellia Quiz booklet modeled on the one Brenda Litchfield had designed for the Mobile Camellia Club. Great fun was had by everyone as members and guests sipped fine tea while enjoying the blooms, the images in the judged camellia photography classes, and the display of Ikebana flower arrangements.

Dinah Hutchinson won Best in Show with ‘Warrior’ from the UWBG collection, Barbee Crutcher was Runner Up with ‘Coral Delight’, and Ginny Kitchell won Best White in Show for ‘Finlandia’.  Best Tray of three camellias was won by Debby Smith showing Sally Nordstrom’s exquisite red and white camellia called 'Oarando Ku'.  In photography, the best portrait of a camellia went to Joanne Rosen and the best artistic representation was awarded to Jane Harder.  The Ikebana arrangements were for exhibit only and prepared by Nobuko Ohgi of the Saga Goryu School and Nobuko Relnick of the Sogetsu School. 

Now as another camellia season approaches, the New Seattle Camellia Society is reaching out to the community to add more members, it is planning its first year of programs, and is already looking forward to the spring of 2008 when the society will hold its very first show.