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The International Camellia Society

Switzerland Region

Directors:

Rolf Stockmann
Via Sott'Cà 1
6926 Montagnola
Switzerland

Directors:

Claudia Respini

Mondacce 33

Minusio

6648 Switzerland

Contact Switzerland Region Director

Regional Summary:

In Switzerland, camellias mainly grow in the southern part, in the region called Ticino. Here we find the fertile acid soil, sufficient rainfall and a mild climate due to the lakes and the protection of the alpine mountains. We don’t need greenhouses. The plants grow outside. In the northern part of Switzerland the conditions are not so favourable due to the non acid soil and the colder winters.

The origin of the camellia plant in the private gardens and public parks of Ticino dates back to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The plants were brought in by Swiss and Italian nursery men, mainly from the southern part of the Lake Maggiore (Isole Borromee, Verbania, Stresa, Pallanza) and from the gardens on Lake of Como to Lugano. During this period a tourist boom was starting and attractive public parks were becoming more necessary. In the surroundings of the old towns of Locarno, Bellinzona and Lugano, beautiful new villas with decorative gardens have been built. The camellia plant was a sign of prestige and could not be missed. So we can find one century old camellias mainly in the parks and gardens of Locarno.

In the twenties there was a camellia festival in Locarno, which after the Second World War, moved in a parade with decorated cars and camellia flower queens, followed in the nineties by a camellia exhibition at the end of March. This event is still held now.

In 2005 Locarno hosted the ICS Congress. For these reasons a camellia park on the border of the lake was planned and inaugurated during the ICS Congress. In 2010 the Camellia Park was nominated "International Camellia Garden of Excellence".

Rolf Stockmann, ICS Director for Switzerland

 
 
 
 

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