The traditional sea of reds, pinks and white was slightly thinner this year, but the blooms were on full display at the 70th annual Aiken Camellia Show.
The hobby Charlotte Wiedenman took up probably 15 years ago netted the Aiken dentist multiple blue ribbons, some of the most she’s had. The plants are both beautiful and easy to grow, she said.
“I love camellias,” Wiedenman said. “I buy them, and I put them in the yard, but I don’t do much to them.”
The flowering shrubs native to Japan came to America with colonial settlers. Wiedenman said she prefers camellia varieties originating in the 1800s or earlier – the kind to which her old house’s former owners would have access.
This year’s show, hosted by the Aiken Camellia Society, had fewer entries – 452, according to show chairman Paul Greenway. Milder winters have seen as many as 1,200, he said. This year, some growers from south Georgia were hurt by the cold and didn’t enter, Greenway said.
“With the wretched weather we’ve had, it’s hard to find blooms that aren’t damaged by the cold right now,” Wiedenman said. “Mine took a beating.”
The show featured entries in 17 different classes, with contests for best blooms and groups of blooms from miniature to very large in size and grown outdoors or in greenhouses.
It also included a show of Ikebana, the Japanese flower arranging art, in which many entries included camellias.
The Ikebana International Augusta Chapter No. 81, which has been in existence since the early 1960s, showed arrangements at the Saturday show, held at St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church in Aiken.
Ikebana chairman Ginny Allen said the group has grown by word of mouth and many study the art under local instructor Hideko Rainey.
With the flower’s peak blooming season come multiple camellia shows. The Augusta Camellia Show will be held Feb. 3 at Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
