Piemonte Camellia. This cultivar was given to me as a gift by Mr. Maeda who is purported to be the largest Camellia grower in Japan. He is president of one of the largest garden center chains in Japan also, but he has the largest collection of species Camellias that I have ever seen, even tropical types with leaves up to 18" long. Truly spectacular! He has many selections as a result of his and his son's breeding work. He gave us a name tag with the name written in Japanese, and it took me several years to get the name translated. 'Piemonte' ("Piedmont" in English) is the cultivar name which is a wine producing area of northern Italy noted for its red wines. A friend of mine who is a Camellia fancier expressed that this is the prettiest Camellia that he has ever seen. The leaves are wavy and heavily serrated. somewhat resembling 'Holly Bright'. The flowers are a semi-double to double brilliant red, with many flowers showing a somewhat formal look with bright yellow stamens. The flower reminds one of 'Black Magic' but they don't droop on the plant like 'Black Magic', with its stems being much stronger. The form of the plant is also very compact and most attractive. I have never seen this plant outside of Japan. He also gave us another of his cultivars that has brilliant burgundy new growth, similar to 'Night Rider', but it appears to be a much stronger plant. It just sets flower buds so heavily that we get very little vegetative growth with which we can propagate it.
Zones 7-9.
