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Camellia 'Inspiration'



4th April 2006




22nd January 2012


For a long time I have been confused between 'Inspiration' and 'Elsie Jury' because I lost the labels shortly after I planted them. A few years ago I came across an old planting plan and realised my mistake but by then I had already formed a rather low opinion of what I took for 'Inspiration'.
In the last couple of years I have paid closer attention and I am appreciating the plant a bit more. It is growing at the top of the garden where the wind knocks it about a bit and it seems to prosper. It flowers freely and has good dense shiny leaves (which is a kind way of saying it has plenty of flowers and I don't really like them). A hybrid between C.reticulata and C.saluenensis, it has the large flowers that are produced early in the season, so it inherits good qualities from each parent.
I admit that I am not easily pleased when it comes to flowers in shades of pink. Whatever it is I am looking for (I have never managed to pin it down) this isn't it.

20th March 2013


My little plant grows on a single stem that seemed perfectly adequate until the flowers opened. It had a few days as a pink ball on a stick and then a passing gust of wind laid it flat. It has been picked up and given a friendly stake to lean on while it recovers some poise, or what passes for it among Camellia.

3rd Februry 2015


2015 was a mild year, it felt as though there had hardly been a winter, so it is good to be reminded that we had snow, although it fell overnight and didn't last until mid-day.