Visitors will enjoy camellia-themed activities during The Huntington’s Second Sundays: Captivating Camellias event. Photo by Judi Danner. | The Huntington, San Marino, California.
An intimate celebration of camellias awaits families this Valentine’s season at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. On Sunday, February 8, the institution will host “Second Sundays: Captivating Camellias,” a three-hour program combining hands-on artmaking, live musical performances, and educational conversations about one of the garden’s most prized collections.
The event is free with general admission and deliberately timed to coincide with the garden’s peak winter blooms and the Southern California Camellia Society’s 52nd Annual Camellia Show, scheduled for February 7–8.
According to The Huntington’s official description, visitors will “fall in love with camellias, symbols of enduring affection, through artmaking, music, and talks with experts.” Participants will create unique paper flowers inspired by wintry camellia blooms, and flautist Maureen Keenan will perform half-hour sets at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 p.m. Docent-led conversations will explore “why camellias have captivated people since they began blooming in Asia thousands of years ago.”
The Huntington’s Camellia Garden contains nearly 80 camellia species and over 1,200 cultivars across twelve acres. The collection earned international recognition when “The Huntington Botanical Garden was named an International Camellia Garden of Excellence in 2001 by the International Camellia Society because it has one of the most comprehensive collections of camellias in North America.”
Second Sundays: Captivating Camellias will run on Sunday, February 8, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. North Vista, Camellia Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. For more call (626) 405-2100 or visit www.huntington.org/event/second-sundays-captivating-camellias. Tickets: Free with general admission
