“Why are we called the Camellia City?” he asked.

“Actually we call ourselves the Camellia City,” I said. “Just like we call ourselves the City of Trees. We’re called the River City because the rivers were always here, and we used to be called The City of the Plain because we are on a plain. People wanted shade so we planted trees and people wanted beauty so we planted camellias. It’s natural that we are proud of our trees and our camellias.”

“That’s an awful lot of names,” he said.

“Maybe that’s why we have an identity crisis,” I explained. “It’s too bad we can”t get our city and county tourist departments; the chamber of commerce; and the marketing, advertising, publicity and public relations communities to make some order out of our names.”

We paused.

“I’ll be happy to tell you what I know about camellias if you want me to,” I said.

He nodded.

“A lot of my facts about camellias I got from a book by F. Melvyn Lawson. I read it in the Sacramento Room at the main library. Camellias came here during the Gold Rush. Because of all the people here, most ot the trees along the shores of the Sacramento were cut by 1853. While the old trees were dying the beautiful camellia was making itself a home. The guy who sold trees at his nursery, James Warren, also sold camellias.

“The camelllia got its second break in 1869 when it was planted at the State Capitol Park. From then on the enthusiasm of camellia growers and lovers got even stronger.

“In 1910 people tried to call Sacramento the Camellia City, but it didn’t catch on. That’s interesting because that was at the same time the neighbors in East Sacramento wanted to tear out the old plants and walls at the cemetery on Alhambra. The cemetery had not been maintained after its heyday between 1855 and 1875.

“While one was falling apart, the other was taking fifty or sixty years building itself for fifty years of glory. A lot of shade trees were being planted too. The difference between the shade trees and camellias was that nobody wanted to cut the camellias down. At the beginning of the century, C. K. McClatchy used to criticize business owner for cutting down so many beautiful old trees that had been planted between 1850 and 1870.”

“But don’t camellias need shade?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, “but they were always planted in parks or at people’s homes. They weren’t planted in the shade of street trees. So with their beauty, their lovers and no competition, the camellia became Sacramento’s most cultivated and famous flower. In 1941 it became the City’s official flower.”

“When did we become the Camellia City?” he asked.

“In 1943,” I said, “when the Camellia Society promoted the name, although one horitculturalist referred to us as Camellia City in an article he wrote in 1927.”

“I don’t see too much excitement around town about camellias,” he said.

“It’s around. It just isn’t what it used to be,” I said. “Everything has its day. The camellia had quite a long day. From about 1925 to about 1975 were its glory years. So except for just a few years, the camellia was growing steady or riding high from 1855 to 1975. That’s a real long time in the modern world.

“I have my thoughts as to why it is not as popular as it used to be. There wasn’t much winter color in those days. The Sasanqua camellia and poinsettia in December, narcissus in February and the regular camellias in February and March. Now there is a lot of color all year.

“Another reason is that camellias require TLC. People don’t have time to work in the garden or to observe something beautiful. The old school people used to sit in their lawn chair on a sunny Saturday in late winter and watch the blossoms. Then they’d snip them and put them on the dining room table.

“The world has changed. Water became scarce. Plantings that would have gone to camellias now went more and more to drought tolerant plants.

“One last reason I can think of is that between 1960 and 1980, Sacramento lost more of its wide open spaces. The camellia symbolizes civilization. With civilization everywhere, people need wildness. The wild free look is in – poppies and zauschneria.

“But it isn’t important to me why the camellia is not as popoular as it used to be. It is still lovely. What is important is that it was a source of a lot of passion, that it inspired so many people for such a long long time.”