The Quest for Camellias

Behind the beauty of camellias is the story of one man’s quest to amass a collection against the odds of government regulation.

W.R. was a gentleman plant hunter who frequented nurseries in England to build his collection at Planting Fields. However, the Federal Horticultural Board Quarantine Law #37, passed in 1919, greatly restricted W.R.’s camellia purchases. With the intention of controlling invasive pests, like the corn borer or satin moth, it prohibited plants with soil on their roots from being imported into the United States and subjected them to fumigation.

In 1921, W.R. wrote to United States Representative Frank Mondell, of Wyoming, requesting a special permit to bring rare rhododendrons and camellias into the country. He was willing to pay for the plants to arrive directly in New York, instead of Washington DC, where the fumigation and inspection could affect their longevity. It’s likely that W.R. was connected to a Wyoming representative due to his philanthropy in the state.

Letter from Mondell to Coe, 1921.

Charles Lester Maratt, the chairman of the USDA Federal Horticultural Board sent a report to Mondell to dispel some of the myths associated with the law. He stated that there was no way around the DC inspection stage, and that permits were available botanical gardens or those who have established special collections, not “the import of miscellaneous ornamentals for the adornment of private estates.” The magnitude of Coe’s collection at Planting Fields was taken into consideration and he was considered a special collector—and he would have obtained a permit—as long as he adhered to a set of rules.

“With support of Quarantine 37 a distinctively American horticulture and floriculture is now being created and the dependency on foreign grown plants is rapidly disappearing and with it much of the risk of entry of new pests.”—Charles Lester Marlatt, Chairman, Federal Horticultural Board, 1921.

W.R. dismissed every stipulation! He knew camellias under three years old would not benefit his collection and the stop in DC would affect the likelihood of them surviving the trip. He wrote that he “commends regulation but believes it has gone too far.”

Later that year, W.R. wrote to nurseries in England to negotiate ways around the law and even offered to take his chances and transport three dozen begonia plants in pots in his personal luggage. Clibrans, a nursey in Cheshire, carefully packed the plants with moss around the roots in a box (instead of in pots) for W.R. to bring back to the states.

Letter from Clibrans to Coe, 1921.

Round Two
Toward the end of his life, W.R. acquired another round of camellias, this time by way of California.

Descanso Nurseries (now known as Descanso Gardens) established their initial Camellia Collection by purchasing camellias cultivated by Japanese nurseries that were forced to close during World War II[1]. Their collection grew in 1947 when they acquired fifteen varieties of Camellia Reticulatas from Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. Hybridizer Dr. Walter E. Lammerts worked directly with the Yunnan Botanical Institute to acquire the rare camellias. However, due to the quarantine act, the soil had to be removed from the roots and the plants fumigated which resulted in some casualties[2].

In 1951, W.R. wrote to Descanso about the legacy of the Camellia Collection at Planting Fields and his desire to obtain new types. The California company boasted about the availability of 15 new varieties of Camilla Reticulata. They were available for the retail price of $1,000 per collection [$12,511 in 2025]. W.R. specified 2-year grafts, which were available for a higher price of $1,750 [$21,895 in 2025]. They waited until March of 1952 to ship the camellias to Planting Fields to avoid exposure to the cold.

Page one from Descanso Nurseries to W.R. Coe, 1951.

All of these efforts paid off, and today, we still enjoy the camellias that W.R. so loved.

– from Marie Penny, Director of Collections and Research

Header Image: Interior of the Camellia Greenhouse photographed by Mattie Edwards Hewitt, circa 1926.

All images Planting Fields Foundation Archives

[1] More about the history: https://www.descansogardens.org/about/mission-and-history/

[2] Threlkeld, John L. The Camellia Book. Van Nostrand, 1972.