Visit - Camellia Garden of Tokyo Metropolitan High School - Izu-Ôshima - Japan
This is the most unusual garden we feature in our tours. This is our last visit to Izu-Oshima. It's the Camellias Garden of Tokyo Metropolitan High School. We are at Tokyo Metropolitan High School, which is an agricultural high school. In order to teach its students about camellias, knowing that camellias are the island's most important crop, a real camellia grove has been planted. It is divided into four sectors: the main sector, which mainly contains Japanese camellias, followed by sectors dedicated to camellias native to Izu-Oshima, species, and European camellias. The collection is open to the public during the Camellia Festival, from late January to late March each year. This camellia grove is easily accessible to visitors; you can park in the high school parking lot. There is a similar site in Nantes, but it is not accessible to the public. For seasoned camellia enthusiasts and collectors struggling with identification, this place is a true paradise. That's why I chose to show the organization of this collection, but above all to highlight the diversity and beauty of Japanese camellias, which, thanks to this amazing visit, will enrich the nomenclature. The camellias are all very accessible and named.
We begin our tour of the collection. The camellia planting is very airy and meticulous. Each plant is accessible and rigorously pruned. Unknown camellias are marked. It's remarkable; needless to say, I enjoyed it.
There are Japanese camellias that we've seen in Europe or during our previous travels. But there are also many camellias that we've never seen before. That's the whole point of conservatories, and this one is truly special.
The following six camellias were bred in Izu-Oshima. There are 350 at Metropolitan High School. New varieties are added regularly. An entire section is dedicated to them.
Another, less important sector, a little out of the way, with more unusual camellias, for example due to their foliage.
Leaving Metropolitan High School, we pass through the section dedicated to foreign camellias. It's right at the entrance, as we leave the parking lot. We're delighted to come across 'Adolphe Audusson', an old French camellia, but one that's so common all over the world. The last photo on this page is the view from this section.
