Camellia japonica ‘Okan’ in UBC Botanical Garden
For British Columbian readers, something with a little pink in it for today’s photo.
Higo camellias are known as the “flowers of the samurai“. Though samurai were warrior noblemen, during times of peace their other pursuits included gardening and the cultivation of plants. In Higo province, now Kumamoto Prefecture, their cultivation and selection endeavours led to the development of this distinct cultivar group. Forming a group of at least seventy cultivars (in present times), Higo camellias all share the property of having nearly free stamens that radiate outward from a flat base (compare against the partially united column of stamens in Camellia japonica ‘Ashiya’).
For several centuries, Higo camellias were bred and grown only by samurais and priests, to please those with privilege enough to be invited to see them. Eventually, they began to symbolize courage and steadfastness (e.g., for blooming in the winter), qualities associated with the samurai. It became tradition to plant Higo camellias at the graves of samurais, such that the fallen blossoms would adorn the sites. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, samurai began to disappear, and with them, the cultivation of Higo camellias. In 1958, the Higo Tsubaki Koyokai was formed, a society dedicated to revitalizing interest in ancient Higo cultivars and the breeding of new ones. It is from the graves of samurais that many ancient cultivars were propagated and introduced into broader cultivation.
‘Okan’ is a modern cultivar, having been introduced to cultivation in 1982. It was propagated from a sport of ‘Yamatonishiki’.
To see other photographs of the plant at UBC, see this photograph of a late in the season plant, or Wendy Cutler’s photographs of camellias in the garden from March, 2015. Lastly, for those readers who work at the Garden, these are the flowers about to open in the vase on the lunchroom table.
(and, a note of thanks to Stirling Macoboy’s The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Camellias as a resource)
A really fine camellia and one one of my favorites. It’s one of the few varieties with single blooms to do well at shows. There is an entirely separate international society devoted to the Higo camellia. The American Camellia Society recently recognized Higo as a distinct form from other single blooms.
I am a camellia collector and go out of my way to collect Higos. I have attempted to get my hands on as many as possible. They really stand apart from other Camellia. By the way, if anyone has ‘Fuji’ in the US, please let me know, I’d be happy to trade scions.
One of the best Higo gardens in the world is in actually in Italy, not Japan, at the estate of a retired pharmacist. His website devoted to Higos is at http://www.higocamellia.it/. Well worth checking out.
If anyone happens to be in the Portland, Oregon area the first weekend of April, the American Camellia Society will be holding its annual convention in conjunction with the Oregon Camellia Society’s annual floral show in Newberg, Oregon.
Thanks Denis. I actually linked to the Italian Higo site in the entry 😉
Nice! I someday hope to visit Italy this time of year so I can Dr. Ghirardi’s garden.
What zones will this camelia thrive in?
Paula,
Camellia japonica (which includes Higos) generally are safe in Zone 7 and above. The larger flowered C. reticulata, with exceptions, needs at least Zone 9. Many of the C x reticulata hybrids with C. japonica are good to Zone 7.
Dr. Ackerman of the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. created a number of hybrids with C. oleifera (the source of commercial camellia oil used in cosmetics) that are hardy to Zone 6, as are two C. japonica cultivars with Korean provenance, collected by Barry Yinger of Asiata Nursery fame in the 1980s. C. ‘Korean Fire’ and C. ‘Korean Snow’ are both available from Camellia Forest nursery and I think Korean Fire is distributed by Monrovia. The Ackerman hybrids generally contain the name “April” (e.g. C. ‘April Kiss’) or “Snow” (e.g. C. ‘Winter’s Snowman’). I would still consider these suspect in Zone 6 if your area has extended periods of cold, windy weather with very low humidity.
It´s a wonderful joy to receive your posts again! Thanks to all the team for this amazing work!
Daniel,
Thank you for your contributions–the descriptions are informative and the photos are wonderful.
Your discussion of the plant’s cultural associations is a wonderful addition to the botanical information. Extremely interesting piece. Thank you.
I found that comparison with C. japonica ‘Ashiya’ useful in understanding the “free stamens”, but there is a currently unfixable bug that prevents the link from displaying. If you right click and select Open in new tab (or window), you can get to the photo.
Thanks for this tip about how to view the other photo.
Yes, I’ve reported it to the plugin author. Hopefully it gets updated and resolved.
Daniel, the comments are not showing, and the link (from February listings) to comments does not work. Just FYI. Not really a comment – although I loved the photo so much I was interested in what others would say.
Of course, just by posting a comment, the problem fixes itself. Fascinating and frustrating. Sorry for the extraneous post; I was just trying to reach Daniel.