Plant Journeys blog post #2 – Camellia: winter's delight

The common camellia is an evergreen shrub which can flower early in the year, even when there is still snow on the ground. This year at Broughton Garden the camellia was in flower before January came to an end. It is a member of the tea family, originally named Thea chinensis, and thrives in the regions of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangdong in China. The plant is named after Georg Kamel (1661–1706), a German missionary and pioneering botanist who documented the flora and fauna of the Philippines.

In Broughton Garden, there are two cultivars of Camellia japonica, ‘Adolphe Audusson’ and ‘Hakurakuten’. In spite of its name, C. japonica is not originally unique to Japan but is native to a broader geographical area within East Asia. The name is based on a description by Engelbert Kaempfer (1651–1716) of a camellia he saw in Japan in 1712. The species native to Japan is C. sasanqua (tsubaki in Japanese).

Camellia, with its ability to bloom in the snow, is often seen as a symbol of resilience. That’s why it is commonly included in winter flower arrangements, along with other early blooming plants like narcissus and wintersweet or plum blossoms. In the Plant Journeys exhibition, you can find camellia paired with narcissus and plum. Additionally, there is a kimono pattern book in the Broughton House collection featuring a camellia in snow.