Camellia, Double Pink
Flowering Quince
The genus name, Chaenomeles, derives from the Greek words “chaino,” which means “to split,” and “meles” for “apple,” a reference to the shape of the fruit. The seeming incongruity between the plant and its name is explained by the fact that it was mistakenly believed that the fruit was split. The species name, speciosa, means “showy.” While flowering quince bears fruit, the plant should not be confused with the quince tree, Cydonia oblonga, which bears fruits commonly used for making jelly and which, although a member of the same family, belongs to a different genus. Aside from being hardy and growing easily in ordinary soil, flowering quince offers many new and choice varieties. I love flowering quince for many reasons but admit the flowers are the real hook for me. It’s always a thrill to spy that first splash of color; a signal that winter is nearing its end. Right when I need it most, this plant brightens the garden and gets me excited about the season ahead. Easy to grow and pretty, flowering quince can be found in garden centers now. Although all quince species have flowers, gardeners in the West often refer to these species as “flowering quince,” as Chaenomeles are grown ornamentally for their flowers, not for their fruits.
Forsythia
Forsythia suspensa, the first to be noticed by a Westerner, was seen in a Japanese garden by the botanist-surgeon Carl Peter Thunberg, who included it (as a lilac) in his Flora Japonica 1784. Thunberg’s professional connections lay with the Dutch East Trading Company, and F. suspensa reached Holland first, by 1833. Forsythia viridissma, meanwhile, had overtaken it in European gardens. The Scottish plant-hunter Robert Fortune discovered it in a mandarin’s garden of the coastal city of Zhou Shan before Thunberg ever saw it growing wild in the mountains in Chusans province, Zhejiang. Forsythia is one of the hardiest shrubs known and blooms from sea to sea. A twig placed in water can be planted in any loose soil and will herald the season of spring for many years.
16 Lake Martin Living
Carl Linnaeus named the camellia in honor of Father George Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit missionary who worked in the Philippines. Although Kamel did extensive research in botany, he did not have anything to do with the camellia. It was inevitable that the camellia would arrive in the United States. But its arrival here is surrounded with controversy. Some say that John Stevens introduced the camellia to the United States in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1797. Others believe — and can prove — that a French plant explorer by the name of Andre Michaux brought the first camellia to this country when he gave his friend Henry Middletown four camellias for his plantation, Middletown Place, in Charleston, South Carolina. That plantation, established in 1741, still exists, and one of the four camellias still survives: ‘Reine des Fleurs.’ Michaux, who traveled the world in search of plants for France at the request of King Louis XVI, established a botanical garden in Charleston in 1786. Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees that grow up to 66 feet tall. Their leaves are alternately arranged, simple, thick, serrated and usually glossy. Their flowers are usually large and conspicuous, measuring from 1 to 6 inches in diameter, with five to nine petals in naturally occurring species of camellias. The colors of the flowers vary from white through pink colors to red; truly yellow flowers are found only in South China and Vietnam. Camellia flowers throughout the genus are characterized by a dense bouquet of conspicuous yellow stamens, often contrasting with the petal colors. The so-called “fruit” of camellia plants is a dry capsule that is sometimes subdivided in up to five compartments, each compartment containing up to eight seeds. The various species of camellia plants are generally well adapted to acidic soils rich in humus, and most species do not grow well on chalky soil or other calcium-rich soils. Most species of camellias also require a large amount of water, either from natural rainfall or from irrigation, and the plants will not tolerate droughts; however, some of the more unusual camellias – typically species from Karst soils in Vietnam - can grow without too much water.