YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: REINVENTING THE GARDEN CAMELLIA^©

During the middle portion of the 20th century, landscape architects and backyard gardeners in Zones 7a-9 began to appreciate the versatility of the Camellia sasanqua as an American garden staple. Venerable cultivars from Japan were imported by Toichi Domoto on the West Coast and Tsukasa Kiyono in the Southeast. Likewise, near Mobile, Alabama, new cultivars were being bred and introduced by Kosaku Sawada at his Overlook Nurseries. Subsequently, C. sasanqua became popular enough that they were distinguished from Camellia japonica and gained their own vernacular as “Sasanquas”. The terms “japonicas” and “sasanquas”, although taxonomic sins, are still useful epithets for grouping the garden camellias.