Featured in the latest issue of Pacific Horticulture…
A Half-Century of Camellias Find a New Home at SFBG
Some parts of the San Francisco Botanical Garden start as fresh ideas for gardens in a new place. The new Camellia Species Garden actually began with someone else's garden in a very different place.
For nearly fifty years, Marjorie O'Malley collected camellias—and hybridized some of her own—at her magnificent garden in Woodside. The garden was featured in the January 2005 issue of Pacific Horticulture, in an article by camellia enthusiast Barbara Tuffli. Sadly, Marjorie passed away before that article was published. Her property then changed hands twice, ultimately being acquired by Bill and Sonja Davidow. They had other plans for the property, but worked with Barbara and other members of the San Francisco Peninsula Camellia Society to find a new home for Marjorie's extensive collection of camellias.
The camellia society had already arranged with SFBG's then-director Scot Medbury to fund a new collection of camellia species at the botanical garden. Ultimately, that garden was expanded to include Marjorie's camellias. That decision was the easy part of creating the new garden. The challenge was to move Marjorie's camellias to SFBG. The Davidows generously underwrote the transplanting of the collection, and provided funding for other aspects of the installation.
The project of creating this new public garden out of an old private garden is featured in the April 2008 issue of Pacific Horticulture. Barbara Tuffli, now president of the American Camellia Society completes the story of Marjorie's camellias as take up residence in their new home in the San Francisco Botanical Garden.
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