Flower Power

Camellias, a southern landscape favorite, show off a blaze of color throughout the winter months. Middleton family history holds that in the year 1786, French botanist Andrè Michaux, gave the Middletons some of the first camellias to be planted in an American garden. Today, Middleton Place has more than 4,000 camellias, many over 220 years old, including one of the four original Michaux plants, which is known at Middleton Place as the “Reine des Fleurs” or “Queen of Flowers.”
Blooming during the depths of winter, the fragile beauty of camellias enhance the Middleton Place Gardens with thousands of blossoms, from pristine white to all shades of red and pink. Guests may learn about this magnificent plant and thousands more on a Camellia Walk, held every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday beginning Feb. 10 and continuing through March 21. The camellia-focused guided Garden tours will begin at 11 a.m. at the Garden Market & Nursery and last approximately an hour and a half.
The 2015 Camellia season kicks off with a weekend of events highlighting the camellia. Beauty & History: Celebrating Camellias at Middleton Place begins this Saturday, Feb. 7. Master Gardener and Middleton Place vice president of Horticulture Sidney Frazier will lead a workshop discussing growing camellias, from propagation to care and maintenance. The workshop begins at 1 p.m. in the Middleton Place Garden Market and Nursery and will be followed by a special Camellia Walk and unveiling/removal and potting of a new air-layered branch of the “Reine des Fleurs.” Air-laying is a method of propagation that produces an exact replica of the mother plant, and thus the new plant will carry on the legacy left at Middleton Place by Andrè Michaux nearly 230 years ago.
On Sunday, Feb. 8 the celebration of camellias continues with a special Camellia Walk at 2 p.m. followed by a reception and a lecture by Jan MacDougal, an expert garden guide and Master Gardener. Jan has been a volunteer with Middleton Place for more than 30 years and has been the Camellia Walk trainer since its inception more than 15 years ago. Special camellia items will be for sale during the reception as well as in the Museum Shop and Garden Market throughout the weekend including plants propagated at Middleton Place.
For reservations, call (843) 556-6020 or visit www.middletonplace.org. For additional information, call (843) 556-6020 or visit
www.middletonplace.org.