Product Description

Hardy and resistant to disease, thriving in shady situations and in containers, camellias reward the gardener with blooms of stunning color and profusion at a time of year when the rest of the garden offers little. The fascinating story of the camellia is told in the chapter introductions and in the seven feature spreads. Many of the renowned oriental cultivars from which the modern cultivars derive are described in the book, as are the beautiful formal japonicas that were so prized by 19th century European aristocrats.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #706536 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Library Journal
Camellias are valued for their lovely flowers, which bloom when other flowering plants are resting, for their generally compact, formal habit, and for their evergreen leaves. Books about flowers are valued for stunning photographs, good organization and writing, and useful cultivation information, and this encyclopedia meets those requirements. Internationally recognized Australian author and gardener Macoboy presents here more than 1000 of the world's most popular camellias, with every entry illustrated by a color photograph. Entries are well placed with the photos and give the expected descriptions, which include flower form, color and size, parentage, date of registration, plant habit, and flowering season. The writing is informal and graceful. Of Arabian Nights, Macoboy says "There is little to connect this pretty camellia with the raunchy nocturnal enticements featured in the original translation of this oriental classic." Feature essays, illustrated with paintings by Paul Jones, provide background on camellia history, foliage, sports, and hybrids. There is a glossary and an extensive index. Recommended for all horticulture collections and wherever there is an interest in camellias.?Carol Cubberley, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This definitive guide to camellias by Stirling Macoboy, a leading expert on the genus, with the support of coauthor Roger Mann, presents 1,096 of the most popular species, cultivars, and hybrids. Each entry includes the flower's description (the color and form of petals), cultivars' names and synonyms, Chinese and Japanese names (as a point of fact, camellias were first cultivated in China and Japan), the date of registration, parentage, flowering season, and other historical information. In addition, each entry is illustrated by a stunning color photograph; additionally, there are 19 color paintings, 17 black-and-white drawings, and 2 black-and-white photographs. Rounding out the coverage is a brief chapter on the cultivation of camellias, and a glossary. George Cohen

Review
"A definitive guide."
—George Cohen, Booklist, May 1, 1998 (Booklist )

"Magnificently and profusely illustrated, every entry is shown In color, and where pertinent there are Japanese characters in addition to English words for cultivar names. Most highly recommended as a required addition to any library's horticultural collection."
—Choice, December 1998 (Choice )

"Stirling Macoboy consummates his long love affair with camellias in this outstanding treatise. With descriptions of over 1000 camellias in cultivation today, all illustrated in superb color photographs, he has given camellia enthusiasts and novices alike a captivating and poetic reference for the genus."
—Pacific Horticulture, Spring 1999 (Pacific Horticulture )

A definitive guide. George Cohen, Booklist, May 1, 1998 (Booklist )

Magnificently and profusely illustrated, every entry is shown in color...Most highly recommended as a required addition to any library's horticultural collection. -- Choice, December 1998

Magnificently and profusely illustrated, every entry is shown In color, and where pertinent there are Japanese characters in addition to English words for cultivar names. Most highly recommended as a required addition to any library's horticultural collection. Choice, December 1998 (Choice )

Stirling Macoboy consummates his long love affair with camellias in this outstanding treatise. -- Pacific Horticulture, Spring 1999

Stirling Macoboy consummates his long love affair with camellias in this outstanding treatise. With descriptions of over 1000 camellias in cultivation today, all illustrated in superb color photographs, he has given camellia enthusiasts and novices alike a captivating and poetic reference for the genus. Pacific Horticulture, Spring 1999 (Pacific Horticulture )

The best book of camellia portraits. -- Fred Whitsey, London Daily Telegraph, February 26 2000

This outstanding work belongs on all gardener's library shelves. -- John E. Bryan, John E. Bryan Gardening Newsletter, August 1998

Customer Reviews

As the title promises: An illustrated Encyclopedia
This book presents over 1000 varieties of Camellias with short descriptions, parentage and flower period. The most remarkable point is that all varieties are illustrated with stunning photographies. The Camellias are grouped in several chapters: species, sasanquas, japonicas, higos, reticulatas and hybrids with short introductions dealing with their characteristics. The reader will see the full scope of Camellias and has the chance to compare synononyms, even chinese/japanese names are listed. However, of the 300 pages there are only 9 pages dedicated to the cultivation of Camellias. A hobby gardener interested how to grow Camellias will be disappointed.

Beautiful pictures, mostly C. japonica
It's important to note that the book has an Australian perspective. Why important? The camellia varieties found in commerce will vary from place to place, and cultural needs will vary depending on climate and soil. I suspect that most North Americans won't know how their soil compares to that in regions of Australia (I don't!).

The book is filled with beautiful photos. It's well printed and bound and offers a pleasant way to while away an hour when it's too rainy to work in the garden. It might even make a nice gift for a non-gardener.

In my area (coastal North Carolina), sasanquas are more successful than japonicas. This book, like most Camellia texts, is heavily weighted to japonicas. Of the roughly 300 pages, about 145 are devoted to japonicas, 28 to sasanquas, 10 to higos, 38 to reticulatas, and 35 to hybrids. And, as noted by another reviewer, cultivation is given only about 10 pages.

It's a great book for what it is: a photo gallery of about 1,000 camellia species, mostly C. japonica. What it is NOT is a book about growing camellias, nor is it one with especially good coverage of camellia species other than C. japonica.

If you love camellias ...
This is clearly a niche book, but it contains a wealth of information about camellias, and pictures of a large number of varieties. I have yet to encounter a better book for a camellia lover.