Camellia Gay Baby

The Gay Baby Camellia is a distinctive variety which forms a very pretty bush that is rounded, dense, and flexible. Its beautiful habit is magnified by its generous and long flowering period of cyclamen-pink blooms accompanied by young purple leaves. These take the form of small semi-double flowers that succeed each other from the end of winter until spring. The shrub has the truly graceful appearance of a traditional rose. Vigorous but not overbearing, this variety is well suited for ornamenting small gardens and for cultivation in containers. This rustic camellia thrives in partial shade in cool and humid climates, in non-chalky and well-drained soil.

The Gay Baby Camellia is a New Zealand horticultural variety resulting from a quite complex cross-breeding between Camellia saluenensis, C. japonica Fuyajô 'Ruby Bells', and the camellia 'Tiny Princess'. Like all camellias, it belongs to the family Theaceae. 'Gay Baby' has a generally rounded habit, as tall as it is wide, and dense vegetation carried by flexible branches. Its growth is slow: by the age of 10, it will reach approximately 1 m (3 ft) in all directions. An adult plant will typically reach a height of 1.50 m (5 ft), depending on the growing conditions. It blooms from the month of February in mild climates, with the peak of flowering occurring in March-April. The plant produces a large quantity of small semi-double flowers, about 4-5 cm in diameter. The corollas of a deep pink colour reveal a cluster of golden stamens. Its leaves, evergreen in winter, are slightly shiny on the upper side. They are initially tinged with purple, then bronze, before turning dark green. Hardy down to -12 °C at the extreme, this variety is cultivated in partial shade or not too intense sunlight, sheltered from cold winds. It likes acidic, humus-rich, moist and light soils.

Place the 'Gay Baby' Camellia prominently in an ericaceous bed, in the company of azaleas, Skimmia, Japanese Quince, and heathers. Plant it in autumn with some spring bulbs e.g. tulips, hyacinths, and narcissus for a magnificent colourful scene. Its compact size is perfectly suited for pot cultivation for many years. Place it on a partially shaded terrace, alongside a wall, protected from cold and drying winds. This camellia can easily be trained on a trellis or a wall facing northeast or east.

The name Camellia was given to the plant in 1735 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Von Linnaeus in homage to Georg Josef Kamel (Latinized as 'Camellus'), an apothecary in the service of the Jesuits in the Philippines at the end of the 17th century. It was not until 1792 that the Camellia arrived in Europe.