These beloved Southern blooms were a favorite of the Jackson native and literary genius.
Ngoc Minh Ngo
Eudora Welty dreamed ofcamellias.
It continued until she saw only one, the original.
Credit:Ngoc Minh Ngo
The author went so far as to call herself, with typical humor, my mothers yard boy.
But her plant knowledge and her passion for certain flowers, camellias most of all, were undeniable.
Chestina would wrap them in wet cotton so her daughter could have them in her apartment in the city.
Eudora Welty penned most of her literary masterpieces in her Jackson, Mississippi, home.Credit:Mississippi Department of Archives and History
She thought they were very special.
Weltys mother designed the garden in 1925 as the familys new home was being built.
Over the years, the duo tended it together.
Welty was really more of a plantswoman than a designer, Russell explains.
She loved all of her flowers individually and pored over reference books and catalogs.
The late nurseryman and renowned camellia propagator Kosaku Sawada bred some of the plants featured in the garden.
The Eudora Welty House & Garden is a recognized stop on the American Camellia Societys Gulf Coast Camellia Trail.
The flowers season in the Welty garden runs from November to March, typically peaking in February.
The garden is free, but entering the house requires a ticket.
eudoraweltyhouse.com
But no matter how many camellias she discovered, there was one she held above all the others.
Her favorite was Leila, and it has a romantic story, says Russell.
It was a present to Welty from John Robinson, with whom she had a decade-long relationship.
Both of them were authors and intellectuals who liked camellias and planted or grafted them.
Before his deployment, he gave her this shrub.
Its more common name is Catherine Cathcart, but Welty called it Leila.
The Welty garden is open to the public, Russell says.
As for the camellias themselves?
All these years after Weltys passing, her plants live on and still reproduce.
They are our living connection to her.
Credit:Ngoc Minh Ngo
‘Leila’ camellia in Eudora Welty’s Mississippi garden.Credit:Ngoc Minh Ngo
Credit:Ngoc Minh Ngo
