Huntington Library Garden, Pasadena CA

 The Huntington has an amazing camellia collection. C. japonica ‘California,  is believed to be the oldest camellia  in Southern California. This specimen arrived on a Japanese tramp steamer as an unnamed seedling in 1888, purchased from a sailor. It had two previous homes before being donated to The Huntington in 2003 by the son of  a camellia collector.