subject: A 96-year-old House Plant A Cammellia [print this page] Want to see a Methuselah of a camellia? You'll find a venerable specimen of Camellia japonica variety Alba Plena in the Johnson Public Library, Hackensack, New Jersey. It's was in the north reading room near the east wall - perhaps the most winning proof we've ever seen of the camellia's remarkable adaptability.
By written record this camellia is at least 96 years old, perhaps even older. Such age in a camellia growing outdoors in the South or in a northern conservatory might not be especially remarkable. But all during these 96-odd years. this camellia has been grown as a house plant!
A camellia plant 100 years old might be expected to be a tree some 30 feet tall under good cultural conditions. This decorative plant is nearly 30 inches tall and about 46 inches wide. It was in a 14-inch clay pot. Although it appears a bit starved and lean, it is unquestionably healthy. It has responded heartily to feedings of Rhodo-Gro. The foliage, though scant, is shiny and attractive and there is no sign of pests or disease or solar garden lights.
The plant was repotted every two or three years by the City Park Department. Set outdoors during the summer, it is brought inside again in mid-October. It is watered on alternate days; the soil level below the rim of the pot is sufficiently low to permit a thorough soaking at each watering. Alba Plena is not the easiest camellia to grow, so it may be assumed that many other varieties, given the same treatment, would have done at least as well.
Venerable plants twine about themselves garlands of history. This aristocratic plant has watched the town of Hackensack grew from the tiny Dutch-settled village of a century ago to its present position as the center of one of the fastest-growing communities of the country, just across the Hudson River by bridge or tunnel from New York City.
The first camellia in America was imported by John Stevens of nearby Hoboken in 1798 and the first Alba Plena reached him in 1800. The plant in the 50-year-old Johnson Library originally belonged to the Williams, a prominent family in early Hackensack. One of the Williams' daughters, Amelia. belonged to the group of "Library Girls" who administered the affairs of the Library Association. . In 1905 the plant had outgrown the Williams home and was given to the library by Amelia. Her sister, Anna, who became a noted bacteriologist, lived near Hackensack and was herself an ardent gardener.
