I was prompted a couple of years ago to undertake some research on the old sasanqua varieties growing in the garden. Caroline Bell who has the National Collection in Devon sent me an email enquiring as to the age and origin of any old plantings. This idea was fruitful as in Jovey Carlyon’s planting notebook (illustrated above) he recorded 2 sasanqua varieties bought from Veitch in 1894. There is also the Veitch invoice here in the archives as well as a record of Jovey purchasing other camellia material from Boehmer who had a nursery business in Japan.
The two Camellias are among the oldest existing plantings outside in the UK ( now approximately 130 years old), and are still flowering well at this time of year. They were espaliered against the south side of the walled garden as can be seen in the image below. I had neglected them for sure until their importance was brought to my attention by Caroline and they were rather stunted. I have now cut chunks off of the Cornish Red rhodo above and other camellias growing on either side of these two. They have both appreciated the extra light and are putting on better growth now and flowering well.
(Please refer to an article written by Caroline in the RCM Yearbook of 2021 for further info on the sasanqua story )
