Selections from the Camellia Collection at the Washington Park Arboretum

Joanna Long
1) Camellia japonica ‘Willmeta’
- This light pink Camellia is reminiscent of an apple blossom.
- Will and Meta Jensen brought this cultivar with them as a seedling from Holland and the specific epithet is a combination of their first names.
2) Camellia japonica ‘Amabilis’
- This white Camellia has impressively large single blossoms.
- ‘Amabilis’ is a French cultivar originating in Nantes in the 1820s.
- Donald G. Graham, the longtime supporter of the Washington Park Arboretum, donated this plant to the collection in 1940.
3) Camellia japonica ‘Shunshoko’
- ‘Shunshoko’ is a Japanese cultivar first advertised in nursery catalogs in the 1930s.
- The light pink and white flowers are semi-double.
- The Arboretum’s Camellia Collection contains almost 400 individual plants, including over 150 Camellia japonica cultivars.
4) Camellia japonica ‘Ecstacy’
- This cultivar boasts bright pink double blooms.
- Our three specimens date back to the 1940s.
- These and all the featured camellias can be found in the Camellia Collection along Arboretum Drive at the south end of the park.
5) Camellia japonica (Cultivar unknown)
- Camellia japonica is native to Japan and China where cultivars have been bred and selected for hundreds of years. There are now thousands of cultivars worldwide.
- Accession 2088-38-A, located on the west side of Arboretum Drive across from parking lot 5, is an unknown cultivar donated by Mrs. Palmer, a founding member of the Arboretum Foundation in 1938.
- The semi-double blooms are a dark fuchsia color.