Ask a Master Gardener: Mobile’s Regal Connection
- Jennifer McDonald
- Jan 8
- 3 min read
BY: Vaughan Drinkard, Mobile County Master Gardener, www.mobilecountymastergardeners.org
People are often surprised to learn that Mobile, Alabama has a regal connection. My involvement with Mobile's brush with royalty began when I was a young child upon the ascension of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, to the throne of England. This is the story of the Camellia japonica Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
My grandfather, Cliff Harris, was making arrangements to send the Camellia he had named after the young Queen to Windsor Gardens. My grandfather was an eclectic man. He was not only a master jeweler, with a career spanning thirty years, but also a realtor, photographer, beekeeper, and (as is particularly pertinent to this story) a camellia enthusiast. In 1950, he purchased Longview Nursery, the famous camellia nursery founded three decades earlier by Robert O. Rubel. My father, Blanding Drinkard, was asked to supervise the nursery. So began Dad's storied work with camellias eventually leading to his nickname as "Mobile's Dean of Camellias."
Mr. Rubel had become internationally known as a camellia guru, a hybridizer and grower of fine camellias. He started Longview Nursery in 1915, specializing in camellias and azaleas. He decided to collect cuttings or entire plants of the best of the many old cultivars from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Mr. Rubel numbered, kept detailed notes, and prepared tracings and drawings of the leaves, buds and blooms of each specimen he obtained.
In 1952, the new Queen ascended to the throne of England. The Queen was an overnight sensation. A short time after the new Monarch began her reign, Frank Griffin, the publisher of the internationally circulated camellia magazine, The Camellian, obtained permission to select and name a camellia Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Mr. Griffin led a nationwide search for a camellia bloom grand enough for a Queen.
Hundreds of letters were written to nurserymen, clubs and individuals known to have new and beautiful camellias. One such letter was sent to Longview Nursery which was, by that time, owned by my grandfather, Cliff Harris.
On a tour in the fall of 1953, Mr. Griffin visited many camellia organizations and was shown color slides of various outstanding cultivars. Before long, out of more than 200 actual blooms entered in the competition, two blooms were secretly selected. One of the two blooms was the submission made by my grandfather.
In early 1954, toward the end of Mr. Griffin's tour, the winning bloom was selected: the bloom of Cliff Harris' Longview Nursery. This bloom would become known as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Camellia Nomenclature Book would describe the bloom as "a japonica, salmon rose pink. Medium to large, semidouble to loose peony form with wavy, ruffled petals. Vigorous, compact growth." (U.S. 1955-Longview) Bob Rubel had grown The Queen from seed planted in 1932. The japonica bloomed for the first time in 1943.
On March 22, 1954, a large delegation of around 100 prominent local and national civic and garden club representatives gathered at the Mobile Airport to witness the sendoff of two Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II plants. A special gold gilded crate was constructed for the shipment as well with a glass picture window which allowed on-lookers to view the healthy specimens.
The two historic camellias were flown from Mobile to London to be consigned to the care of D. Stevenson, head gardener to Her Majesty. Shortly after arriving at their new home, both were planted in the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle. All of this occurred over 70 years ago.
So, what happened to the cultivars that were given to the Queen in 1954? In 2017, I corresponded with Mr. John Anderson, Her Majesty's Keeper of the Gardens to find out the condition of her camellias. Mr. Anderson advised me that the progeny from the original plants are in Savill Garden at Windsor Great Park. He said they are bringing on very young plants at the nursery. It was gratifying to learn that Her Majesty's camellia still exists and thrives in the Queen's gardens.
In November of 2022, I had the honor of donating a mature Queen to Massee Lane Gardens, the home of the American Camellia Society. The Daughters of the British Empire participated in dedicating the planting of the C. japonica Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I found it to be a quite proper way to remember The Queen.
Should you like to see one of the oldest HMQE II's in existence plan a trip to Cornerstone Gardens in Mobile. I look forward to seeing you there.
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