Spilling the ‘Tea’ by Darien Hardy
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Pensacola’s Camellia Craze
id you know that famous southern sweet tea is likely made from a
camellia plant? Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, was used to make the beverage in China as early as 500 B.C. This camellia was the first of its species to make its way to the United States. In the early 1800s, the Camellia japonica was imported from England. By 1920, camellias were popular enough in California that Sacramento was deemed “Camellia City.” Camellia shows became popular in the 1930s, and the American Camellia Society was formed in 1945. This camellia craze eventually took Pensacola by storm, and in 1937, the Pensacola Men’s Camellia Society was formed. By the 70s, the club opened to women as the Pensacola Camellia Society, and, eventually, the society was rebranded as the Pensacola Camellia Club, as we know it today.
The Pensacola Camellia Club partnered with the University of West Florida (UWF) Retired Employee Association to establish the UWF Camellia Garden in 2007 in celebration of UWF’s 40th anniversary. The newly formed UWF Retired Employees Association was searching for a legacy gift for the university to help commemorate the occasion, and the Pensacola Camellia Club was searching for a way to gather, protect and showcase a specimen of every camellia variety developed and registered by local hobbyists since the club’s induction. The UWF Camellia Garden is a part of the American Camellia S o c i e t y ’s G u l f C o a s t Camellia Trail Gardens, which includes many public gardens with significant camellia collections for enthusiasts to enjoy. Skip Vogelsang, former Pensacola Camellia Club president, has been growing camellias for more than 20 years. When he moved to Pensacola 30 years ago, Vogelsang befriended the former director of the local YMCA who gave him and his wife three camellias in three-gallon buckets. Vogelsang planted the camellias in his
yard, where they are still thriving to this day. A decade later, Vogelsang’s wife saw in the PNJ that the Pensacola Camellia Club was holding its annual camellia show and suggested they attend. “I dreaded it,” Vogelsang said. “I envisioned there would be a few little old ladies surrounded by some cups with flowers in them, and I just said ‘please don’t drag me down there.’ Sure enough, we went, and it was just row after row of these long folding tables with camellias. It filled the entire gymnasium, something like 1,500 to 2,000 flowers, and I was flabbergasted.” Vogelsang quickly met and befriended other local camellia growers—Buzz Richie, Retired Marine Colonel Dick Hooton, Federal Judge Roger Vincent and Doc Lundy, who ended up becoming Vogelsang’s mentor. Today, he has developed a hefty collection of about 250 different camellias, all grown and cared for in his home garden. A few years after joining the Pensacola Camellia Club, Vogelsang, Vincent, Hooton and Dr. Norman Vickers introduced another former Pensacola Camellia Club president, and current board of directors member, Paul Bruno, owner of VPaul’s Ristorante, to the club. “My parents had a few plants in the yard. A couple were camellias from the 50s. I thought they were okay,” Bruno said. “ Then, [a few guys] said ‘you need to start growing camellias with us,’ and I said, ‘that’s corny.’ I still went to a show,
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