Mannheim (dpa / lsw) - Red, pink, white - camellias have been adorning parks and gardens all over the world outside of their East Asian homeland for a long time. As a particularly beautiful example, the International Camellia Society named the camellia garden in Mannheim's Luisenpark "Garden of Excellence" on Tuesday. According to the camellia expert of the Luisenpark, Alexander Haas, only Cologne had to offer such an attraction nationwide. Around 40 gardens worldwide have the title. Most of these are in China and Japan, where camellia cultivation began 1400 years ago.
For the coveted certificate, the International Camellia Society requires at least 200 varieties of the hardy plants to be registered and shown. Admission should be free for visitors. Information material should not be missing either.
The garden is part of the Chinese Garden with the largest original Chinese tea house in Europe. Visitors can see these sights from April 14 with the Federal Horticultural Show beginning then.
The camellia also found its way into literature. It is the only flower that one could give to the protagonist in Alexandre Dumas' (1824-1895) tragic romance novel "The Lady of the Camellias".
