Camellia Society to Host Panel of Experts

Professor Mel Belcher will be a guest panelist at the last meeting of the season for the Pacific Camellia Society on April 3.
Professor Mel Belcher will be a guest panelist at the last meeting of the season for the Pacific Camellia Society on April 3.

For its final meeting of the season, the Pacific Camellia Society will host a distinguished panel of camellia experts to discuss various aspects of growing and cultivating camellias. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge.

The public is invited, admission is free, refreshments will be served and an expensive, prize-winning camellia will be given away as a door prize to one lucky attendee.

In addition to the panel discussion, the meeting will include a presentation by Dr. Bradford King about how to grow camellias from seeds. Dr. King has also agreed to serve on the panel where he will be joined by society president George Harrison and special guest Professor Mel Belcher.

The three panelists are among the top competitive growers of prize-winning camellias in California. Belcher, a retired 45-year professor of electrical engineering from Cal Poly University, has been a serious grower of camellias for over 30 years. He is a past president of the Pomona Valley and Southern California Camellia Societies as well as of the Southern California Camellia Council. He served for 17 years as the editor of The Camellia Review, an internationally recognized publication.

Dr. King, a retired psychologist from the University of Southern California, has served for many years as president of the Southern California Society and Council. He is also the current editor of the American Camellia Society Journal, Camellia Nomenclature and numerous other local and national camellia publications.

Harrison, a former Marine, is an active licensed local construction contractor with an intense interest in growing camellias. In addition to being the current president of the evening’s host, Pacific Camellia Society, he is a past president of the Southern California Camellia Council. Tom Gilfoy, a retired attorney and camellia enthusiast, will act as moderator.

Bring your questions about growing camellias to the meeting. The panel has agreed to answer any camellia-related questions from the floor.

For more information about the meeting, call (818) 790-6947.