No camelliaphile should be without copies of the Gerbing and Hume books on the camellia, published in the 1950's. One of my copies was discarded by the local public library and the others bought from used/antiquarian book dealers on the American Book Exchange (www.abe.com): Gerbing, Gustav George. _Camellias_. St. Augustine, FL: The Record Press, 1950. Gerbing's work is filled with beautiful, full-color, full-page illustrations, each with a facing page of expert commentary on the cultural requirements of the variety as well as his observations of its performance in his Fernandina, FL, garden. He covers many of the antique, or heritage, varieties as well as some of the better seedlings he selected and propagated from his North Florida camellia garden. Hume, H. Harold. _Camellias in America_. Rev. ed. Harrisburg, PA: J. Horace McFarland Company, 1955. Hume includes scores of superb, full-page, full-color japonica and sasanqua illustrations. The illustrations are so good that they are suitable for matting and framing. Affiliated with the University of Florida, Hume was, no doubt, the leading American academic authority on the genus _Camellia_ of his day. He writing style is clear and suitable to the layperson. His cultural knowledge of the camellia is vast. __________. _Camellias: Kinds and Culture_. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951. This book has fewer full-color illustrations than _Camellias in America_, and they are of poorer quality, especially after fifty-seven years. However, Hume's descriptions of the leading japonica and sasanqua cultivars of his day are outstanding. This book is also valuable because of its several chapters focusing on the history of the camellia in Europe and North America. He discusses a variety of propagation methods in other chapters. Hume provides information on the numerous early nineteenth-century camelliaphiles in Boston, MA, but regrettably, fails to mention Andre Michaux's introduction of the camellia to Middleton Place Gardens in Charleston in 1786 or Louis LeConte's work with camellias at the LeConte Botanical Garden in Liberty County, GA, in the eighteen-tens and eighteen-teens. Michaux's gift of four camellias to Arthur (Or was it Henry?) Middleton mark the advent of American camellia culture. At least one of those four camellias is still growing at Middleton Place, well over two centuries after it was planted.

I will contribute my vote for Lillian True also. My plant is still young, but this is beautiful! You should be able to find or trade for "Bantel's Sensation". I like this plant, mine was in a spot that was too cool for it (downright cold and drafty) so it suffered but it is recovering. The variegated ballyi is hard to find and expensive. In fact, variegates of a lot of the other species can be "rare" and high priced, esp. on e-bay. If you have deep pockets, you can pick up a few of them. A variegated S. pinguicula recently went for more than $2,000.00. Ack! Bob Smoley has some of the most reasonable prices around for good plants. He can sometimes be slow to respond, and I have heard people complain about mislabeling of some items. However, all in all, I think he is probably the best overall commercial source. At least in my fairly new to Sansevieria experience. Flicker, under what kind of conditions do you grow your Sans? I sent an e-mail a while back about trade but I don't know if you got it or not. Maryl, you still need a S. kirkii pulchra 'Coppertone'. Gorgeous (but I love all of the kirkiis!).

Emmie you might like to have a look at this book by Dave Huss. I have this one in my collection of digital photography books. I think you would be very happy with it as he takes you through the fundamentals in a manner which is easy to read and understand. I see he also has another book that looks like it would be suitable, although I'm not familiar with it. I'll put that link here at the bottom. There are many good books for beginners available and if you do a Google search, you'll also find websites with tutorials for using a digital camera. Good Luck. Sharon Here is a link that might be useful: Teach Yourself Visually

Hunter, those are lovely camellias, and I like the "time-lapse photographs" of 'Frank Houser'... I find it helpful to see how a camellia shrub grows and fills out over time, and that's a nice specimen. I'm sure we would all like to see more photos as you find it convenient to post some. Now that our camellia season is pretty much done, it will be nice to have some flowers to look forward to online. Thanks, Virginia