News Release Distributed 02/10/10
Camellia enthusiasts are invited to “Camellia Morning and Tutorium at Burden” on Saturday, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the LSU AgCenter’s Burden Center in Baton Rouge.
The event will include presentations on camellia culture, grafting, air layering, rooting cuttings, and gibbing and disbudding. A tour through the camellia gardens and a pruning and propagation demonstration will follow.
Admission to the program is $5, and registration begins at 9 a.m. in the Ione Burden Conference Center. Entrance to the Burden Center is on Essen Lane off Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge.
The program will be conducted by camellia expert Art Landry, president emeritus of the American Camellia Society and a former director in the International Camellia Society.
Landry is a charter member and senior adviser to the Baton Rouge Camellia Society.
Burden Center is home to the largest camellia collection in Louisiana. The tour will include parts of this collection in various garden rooms of camellias, including the Stone Camellia Collection, which was moved to Burden Center in 2002.
The Burden Center camellia collection is part of the American Camellia Society’s American Camellia Trail that lists camellia collections of interest from all over the United States.
The LSU AgCenter currently is researching on the effect of herbicides on camellias, camellia propagation and grafting.
The LSU AgCenter’s Burden Center and the Baton Rouge Camellia Society are cooperating with the LSU Rural Life Museum and Bobby Green of Green Nurseries, of Fairhope, Ala., to plant antique and rare camellias around the museum and in historic Windrush Gardens.
Program details are available from LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Jeff Kuehny at 225-578-2158 or JKuehny@agcenter.lsu.edu.
Camellia Morning is sponsored by the Burden Horticulture Society in cooperation with the Baton Rouge Camellia Society.
The Burden Horticulture Society is nonprofit organization that provides assistance and fundraising for the planning, development and use of the LSU AgCenter’s Burden Center for the public good, including public gardens, educational activities and outreach programs.
Future horticulture society events include:
– Azalea Stroll Windrush Garden, March 7
– Afternoon of Roses, April 18
– Spicing It Up: Ginger Show, August 14
– Hayride, Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch October. 16-17
Rick Bogren