CAMELLIA & TEA FESTIVAL
When: 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 11 and 12.
Where: Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge.
Tickets: $9 adults, $6 seniors and students, $4 children 5-12 and free for children 4 and under, includes venue entrance.
Information: 818-949-4200, www.descansogardens.org.
When: 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 11 and 12.
Where: Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge.
Tickets: $9 adults, $6 seniors and students, $4 children 5-12 and free for children 4 and under, includes venue entrance.
Information: 818-949-4200, www.descansogardens.org.
Even though our winters are mild, there comes a point when many long for spring. Alas, the coming season is still weeks away, but you can enjoy a bevy of blooming flowers during the Camellia & Tea Festival at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge Feb. 11 and 12.
“I want people to come to the gardens at a time they might not think of blooms — and to celebrate the camellia that does bloom in the winter in a variety of ways,” Descanso Gardens education programs manager Emi Yoshimura said.
The festival will include performances and interactive workshops by Invertigo Dance Theatre, tea tastings and education from Chado Tea of Pasadena, crafts, as well as learning stations and opportunities to walk through the venue’s famous Camellia Forest with or without a guide.
“You get to wander through a forest of camellias. It really is a forest, some of the plants are tall and there can be so many blossoms that it’s very immersive. You can get lost in there. It’s kind of wild; it’s not a super-cultivated garden,” Yoshimura said.
Descanso Gardens has one of the largest collections of camellias in the world with thousands of plants and more than 600 different species. The venue’s original owner Elias Manchester Boddy, used the spot as a camellia plantation.
For the first two years he grew the blooms for the florist industry, but after a blight he was unable to sell them, Descanso Gardens director of horticulture and garden operations Rachel Young said. His passion for the flowers didn’t wane and Boddy continued to purchase and cultivate camellias until he gave the property to Los Angeles County in 1953. Around 70 percent of the camellias in the gardens today are from the original plantation.
“They are one of the very few flowering plants that bloom in the winter and so they, for a long time, were part of the floral trade because there weren’t a lot of flowers that you could get in the winter before people started flying stuff in from South America,” Young said.
Camellias come from Japan, China and Southeast Asia and grow well in Southern California and the southern states where there is some humidity, but not a lot of snow. In the past, they were often thought of as a delicate plant and cultivated in green houses, but they are actually quite hardy, Young said, and can live for a long time.
There are many uses for camellias, such as oils and teas.
“Everybody has probably had some camellia in their lives, because they’ve probably had some iced tea or a cup of tea. They’re widespread throughout the world because of that,” Young said.
Wandering the grounds daily, Young’s favorite plants – and favorite camellias – varies. Right now, she’s enamored of the Bernice Boddy camellia, named for Boddy’s wife. It is among the first of the camellias to bloom each year and boasts gradient petals from soft to dark pink. A beautiful and simple flower, it brings a smile to Young’s face when she sees it and is reminded of the gardens’ history.
“Descanso has so many different varieties of camellias, some of them are actually fragrant and some of the fragrant ones are blooming right now, so it’s a good time to visit. A lot of people don’t realize that when the camellia (flowers) fall they litter the ground in a carpet of petals. It’s really beautiful at Valentine’s Day because there’s a carpet of red and pink and white petals all over the place,” Young said. “We often get people leaving little hearts out of petals on the ground.”
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