69th Fayetteville Camellia Festival

Cape Fear Botanical Garden and the Fayetteville Camellia Club Present the 69th Fayetteville Camellia Festival

The popular annual Camellia Show has blossomed into the 69th Fayetteville Camellia Festival with well-known speakers, expanded events, displays, art and children’s activities.

The Festival will be held March 7-8, 2015, at Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd. (Route 301), Fayetteville, NC 28301. Garden hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Festival is free to Garden members, and to all other visitors paying Garden admission.

Past Fayetteville Camellia Shows have attracted up to 850 visitors, with entrants from several states regularly contributing more than 1,000 blooms. Blooms must be delivered to the Garden between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Members of the Fayetteville Camellia Club will be on hand to assist with bloom preparation as needed. Judges certified by the American Camellia Society will select the winners and cash prizes will be awarded in dozens of categories. The show itself will officially open to the public at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, Pam Beck, will speak on “Hanging Out with Shady Characters” - the shade loving companion plants for Camellias. Pam, the co-author of Best Garden Plants for North Carolina, is a former Raleigh News & Observer columnist, and a past garden scout and stylist for Better Homes & Gardens. Her writing was honored with the Silver Trowel Award by Garden Writer’s Association of America. For more about Pam, visit www.pambeckgardens.com.

Later Saturday, Brie Arthur addresses propagating camellias in all seasons in an effort to “Cover the World in Camellias.” Brie, an experienced grower and propagator, appears on TV’s Growing a Greener World, writes a column in the trade magazine Nursery Management, and was featured in Organic Gardening magazine as a leader in the “New Generation of Gardeners” in the U.S. Find Brie on Facebook as Brienne Gluvna Arthur.

On Sunday, Roger Mercer, gardening columnist for the Fayetteville Observer, will host a question and answer session. With more than 30 years of local growing and hybridizing experience, Roger is the “go-to person” for all kinds of gardening information. Learn more at www.mercergarden.com.

For additional information on speakers, exhibits, activities, and demonstrations, please visit www.fayettevillecamelliaclub.org.

The 80 acre Cape Fear Botanical Garden is home to the McLaurin Camellia Garden which is part of the American Camellia Trail. Visitors are welcome to enjoy a relaxing stroll throughout the Garden. For more on Cape Fear Botanical Garden, visit www.capefearbg.org.