The Challenge of 'Variety Z'

摘要

As I have written many times be-fore, my fiist concern with cold hardiness in camellias was the result of the back-to-back harsh winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78, in the Washington, DC area. The U.S. National Arboretum collection of 956 specimens in themid 70's was reduced to a dozen spring-flowering C. japonica types, and three fall flowering C.sasanqua types. What has not been stated previously, is that among the above-mentioned survivors, only one, C. japonica 'Variety Z', came through with no injury whatsoever. The only other camellia among the total number of plants to escape any injury was the C.oleifera 'Lu Shan Snow'. It, of course, along with C. oleifera 'Plain Jane', has been the foundation of my breeding program through the years.