Maureen Lee -presentation at Hume Camellia Society meeting 16th May, 2021
Cj Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was born on the 10th February 1843 and died on the 27th September 1919, she was an Italian 19thCentury opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the musical capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914. Along with her near contemporary Jenny Lind, Patti remains one of the most favour sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the quality of the of her unmatched quality of her bel canto technique.
This was originally imported to the UK from Japan in about 1888 by G Waller, who named it for the renowned opera singer Adelina Patti.
Description and growing information.
Family – Theaceae. Genus – Camellia. Species – Japonica. Cultivar – Adelina Patti.
Category – Perennials. Type – Shrub (evergreen)
Shape – upright.
Landscape – uses include flower borders and beds, wall-side plantings and courtyard gardens.
Habit of growth – a very tall, erect, slender branched bush.
Propagation – propate by semi-hardwood cuttings.
Cultivation –Position in a site sheltered from cold, dry winds and early morning sun as buds and flowers may be damaged by cold winds and late frosts. Suitable for woodland and acidic soils.
Pests – may be attacked by aphids, scale insects and vine weevil.
Notable specimens – Caerhays Castle, Goran, Cornwall, UK
Habitat – Horticultural origin.
Leaf description –The plant habit is upright forming a dense, slightly spreading bush. The cup-shaped flowers have bright, rosy-pink, rounded petals with deeper pink coloured veins and a white edge surrounding golden-yellow anthers/stamens. Can occasionally sport either plain white or pink flowers.
Adelina Patti was born on the 10th February 1843 and died on the 27th September 1919, she was an Italian 19thCentury opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the musical capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914. Along with her near contemporary Jenny Lind, Patti remains one of the most favour sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the quality of the of her unmatched quality of her bel canto technique.
This description appeared in “The Garden”, 14th September 1889, page 247.
