Master Gardeners and volunteers get together every Wednesday for a workday at the Woodlands Garden on Scott Boulevard, Decatur. For the last week of March, however, the Garden Committee had a different sort of Wednesday planned for the Mid-week Gardeners. A small troop of us got to visit Camellia expert Jim Pruckler’s garden, which he maintains with his wife in their lovely Tucker home.
While it would have been just fine by us to visit a garden filled with nothing but Camellias, Jim also happens to be a Rhododendron, Azalea, and general plant expert. So you can imagine the sight that greeted us with Spring just around the corner in these parts – a burst of Forsythia, clusters of Candytuft and Phlox, apple blossoms, and an abundance of Camellias.
“I have about 260-300 (Camellia) varieties here,” Jim said, walking around a rhododendron that was waiting to bloom. At Woodlands, we have around 70 varieties, many of which were brought in by Jim to add to Dr Morse’s collection.
“This one looks like Christmas,” whispered Quill, a master gardener and Woodlands Garden volunteer. And it did! She was referring to the Bob’s Tinsie Camellia.
He showed us around the garden, reeling off the names and characteristics of each variety like they were friends he’d known a good while. Jim picked up a gorgeous Camellia edithae bloom, explaining that it was the only variety with a hairy stem. We noticed that it also had a pronounced leaf vein pattern, different from most of its species.
We saw a ‘preview’ of varieties that Jim was planning to introduce into the Woodlands’ collection, including the candy-striped Betty Foy, the Diddy Pink Organdy, popular since the swinging 60’s, the delicately pink Mrs R.L. Wheeler, and Tinsie, named for its small size.
“I don’t know if I should introduce this one in the (Woodlands) Garden,” he said of Black Magic. “It’s a beautiful, intense flower, but I haven’t seen one that doesn’t have a weedy-looking plant.” Some of the others that are currently up for the debate (of being introduced into the Woodlands collection) are the hardy April Rose with its never-ending petals; Emmalene, a swirl a variegated combination of light rose pink and white; Mrs Lawrence Bradley, white with tiny pink flecks; and a pretty Marie Kirk, all white flower except for a shock of red right at the center.
The standout Southeastern Flower Show bloom, however, didn’t make it to the list. “The one in your hand is the best bloom of the year. It’s a spectacular flower, but it’s just not a vigorous plant that will stand out in a public garden,” he explained. When our garden manager Ruby read this piece, she was vigorous in her nod of approval for Jim’s picks.
With names like Desire, Cinnamon Cindy, Governor Muton, and Black Magic, there’s a little something for everyone. “If you happen to air layer a Taylor’s Pride for the plant sale, I’ll buy one. It’s my favorite,” said Ruby, when Jim made a visit to the Garden the following week for an Air Layering Workshop.
Back in his charming home garden, Jim was holding up a loud bloom with red and white stripes, and brilliant yellow anthers. “This one doesn’t deserve to be in the Garden… it does and it doesn’t. It’s called Clown,” he told us. He’d got the plant several years ago from Reverend Bono Dickson, who had introduced Jim to Camellias and trained him in plant propagation techniques that include air layering and grafting. “It’s really unique, but it’s always… sort of weird-looking.” “But it’s the Clown,” Janice, our Garden Committee head, chipped in, defending its right to be weird. “I really like the stripes,” said Tonya, our summer intern. It was clear that if Jim left the choice to us, we’d just vote “yes” on every one of the lovely varieties that he’d spent years cultivating and preserving.
“(The number of)…varieties (I have here) are hard to come by. I have more varieties here than any ten nurseries put together,” he smiled. As he turned our attention to a blushing Grace Elberton, he said “If this one isn’t already in the garden, I’m definitely bringing it.”
We wrapped up our field trip with Camellias for boutonnières, saplings for our home gardens, and a smile on our faces.
Woodlands Garden will be hosting a Plant Sale this Fall. We’re hoping to have some charming Camellias and native plants set out for your home garden. For volunteer details and events at Woodlands Garden, visit woodlandsgarden.org.
