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Rare Camellia blooms after conservatory restoration
One of the rarest camellias in the world is blooming, after being given a new lease of life thanks to the restoration of its 19th-century conservatory home.
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The "Middlemist's red" camellia is thought to be only one of two examples of the variety in the world - with the other in Waitangi, New Zealand.
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The rare plant, brought to Britain from China by Londoner John Middlemist, blooms a deep pink - rather than red - for around a month each year.
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The flower has been in Chiswick House Gardens conservatory, which was built in 1813, since the first half of the 19th century.
But the building, which lost all its glass in the Blitz and even survived an unexploded bomb, had fallen into a complete state of disrepair by the 1980s and was only saved, along with its camellias, by the intervention of volunteers.
Now a major restoration of the conservatory, part of a 12.1 million project overseen by Chiswick House and Gardens Trust and English Heritage to bring the gardens back to their former glory, will soon be completed.
The public will be able to enjoy the new conservatory from the summer and will be able to see the Middlemist's red variety of camellia when it flowers again next year.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
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