I’m just back from a day trip to the coastal Wilmington region of NC, with camellia guru, Mike Chelednik (aka Mike See), and Garden Treasures plant breeder, Jason Burris. We made several stops, but the highlight was a return to the New Hanover County Arboretum, where the County Extension Office is headquartered. I’ve visited here many times through the decades, always finding it interesting to see how plants that the late JC Raulston shared with them over 30 years ago are faring. While some of the older, important specimens were gone, a few still remained. It’s not a large garden, so it’s easy to peruse in 1-2 hours.
The giant specimen of Machilus thunbergii was amazing. This was a small tree that JC loved, but couldn’t get it to reliably overwinter in Raleigh. It has four native ranges, coastal China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. My guess is that JC’s genetics were most likely from the most tender part of the range in Coastal China. The material from Taiwan should be slightly more winter hardy, followed by the populations in Honshu, Japan, with the Korean material topping the list in terms of the most cold tolerance. This mature specimen measured 25′ tall x 40′ wide.
Their stunning specimen of the Asian Blue Oak, Quercus glauca was also magnificent. Most likely, this is another remnant from JC Raulston’s distributions.
The llex crenata ‘Drops of Gold’ holly was one of the oldest I’ve seen.
Their well-grown specimens of the giant mondo grass, Ophiopogon jaburan measured 3′ tall x 4′ wide. This is by far, the largest I’ve ever seen this grow.
The specimen of evergreen Mexican Clethra pringlei was amazing, although it was labeled as the deciduous Asian Clethra barbinervis. This would have been most likely shared by JC Raulston from a 1990s Yucca Do collection. I would be surprised if this isn’t the largest specimen in the Eastern US.
A newer planted specimen of the gold bark Japanese maple, Acer palmatum ‘Bijou’ lit up the garden.
One section of the garden has been turned into a camellia collection, which was obviously well-labeled and well tended. Below are some photos of a few of my favorites.
Did Mike Chelednik say anything of note about new Camellia azalea hybrids?
We didn’t discuss them, but several breeders are working with these to produce camellias that re-flower year round.
We found our “Bihou/Bihou” Japanese maple at the NC Farmers Market in Raleigh. Its gold color is stunning. In its third year, it is happy and growing and budding colorfully this Spring. Thank you for your photo from Wilmington of the mature Bihou. We look forward to our tree’s continued growth.
Beautiful camellias and trees. With increased popularity of Clethra anifolia, the evergreen Clethra pringlei should receive more attention today, I see there’s a cultivar once grown by Yucca Do Nursery called ‘White Water’, and another called ‘Watson’; are they available in the trade? It looks like a couple of nurseries may carry the straight species.
Another botanical garden to visit in the Wilmington area is Airlie Gardens located just outside of Wrightsville Beach bordered by the intracoastal waterway and Bradley Creek. A former estate dating to a 1735 land grant from King George, there are ancient live oaks that can be traced back to 1545. Saplings of Airlie’s historic live oaks are being offered by Penderlea Farms, Burgaw NC; grown from acorns collected from trees named “Old Girl” and “Sister Oaks”. With climate change some say it is only a matter of time before live oaks will be growing in Boston. Hopefully New Hanover County’s Airlie Gardens will continue to grow and evolve in the coming years, as there is still much untapped potential in what could be NC’s and the southeast’s premiere coastal garden.
Yes, we visited Airlie Gardens on the same trip. I’m not aware of anyone who offers the Yucca Do selections of Clethra pringlei, but sadly, they weren’t winter hardy for us.
Thanks Tony.
I found a grower offering the straight species of C. pringlei. It looks like it is marginally hardy in zone 7b/8a since JC Raulston has a good sized specimen of growing in a well-protected shady site against a building, (date planted 1993).