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News from the

Winter
Tea Gardens
At Camellia Forest 2023
Greetings, Upcoming
As we move through the winter months, we’re Workshops
enjoying the slowdown in the garden and time Winter Garden Tour & Tea Tasting
for reflection that comes with longer nights and Sunday, January 29, 2023
the start of the New Year. Lots of plans and 1 pm - 3 pm
work ahead - here's to new beginnings - wishing

Hands-on Pruning Workshop

everyone a peaceful 2023, full of growth and
Sunday, February 12, 2023
hope for the future!
9:30 am - noon
Thanks to everyone who has joined us in the

gardens here at Camellia Forest, and for your Spring Planting Workshop
support. This has been an amazing year - with a Sunday, March 19th, 2023
new family member joining us at work helping 9:30 am-noon
to transplant tea (our daughter Julia), our new

Events
Patreon program (and amazing patrons), a new
garden expansion, and last, but not least, our Nursery Open House Dates:
new Tea Studio taking shape. So many new February 17 - 19
February 24 - 26
beginnings - we are truey grateful, and look
March 10 - 12
forward to sharing tea with you in 2023!!! March 17 - 19

Camellia Forest
Best, Nursery & Tea Gardens
Christine
620 NC Highway 54 West
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Contact us: teaflowergardens@gmail.com
FB & Instagram: @camelliaforesttea
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Winter Book Review New Pruning Workshop
While the wind is whipping and the temperature
drops to 9 degrees F, I find myself dreaming of tea in February 2023
around the world. Luckily, I was gifted The New Tea
Companion: A Guide to Teas Throughout the World,
3rd edition by Jane Pettigrew & Bruce Richardson, Who wants to learn to cut their plants?
and it did not disappoint. By popular demand, we have created a new
The book feels like a small coffee table display, easy in-person winter workshop. The class will
to pick up and scan, reading whichever chapter you include examples of pruning plants ages 1 to
choose. I love the details found throughout this book 10 years, with opportunities for hands-on
and the consistent layout of big beautiful photos.
experience with the pruners!
Flipping through the glossy pages, you see beautiful
steeped leaves and the various colors of green, black,
white, yellow, oolong. and pu'erh teas. The macro We're also putting this workshop content
photos clearly show the variations of rolls, edges, together with video demonstrations in a
colors, hairs, and other details of the leaf. brand new Patreon release - stay tuned!
For a beginning tea-drinker, seeing the remnants of
the tea leaf in my cup confirms this is normal. The
detailed overview of tea types, leaf grades, brew tips,
methods used, and “character” descriptions is packed
with information.
The bulk of the book showcases teas organized by
country, with maps, landscape photographs, and the
leaf, dry and wet, as you would see in a cupping. The
colors of the tea liquor catch my eye as I skim the
pages, appreciating the diversity of tea culture
throughout the world, all the while knowing we have
this plant in common.

~Sandy Straw
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What's been happening in the gardens?

This fall we continued planting our Forest
Garden, including new Darjeeling biclonal seedlings
we’ll be evaluating for hardiness here in North
Carolina. We’ve got thousands of these and other
seedlings potted up and growing in the nursery -
more planting ahead and lots to share with gardeners
and farmers. In the neighboring garden, we cut back
the Sudan grass, an amazing cover crop that grew at
least 5 feet tall and out-competed many of those
pesky summertime weeds. Lots to do to get ready for
spring planting!

In the meantime, winter is still here (even though

it has been rather balmy this week). We already had a
super cold spell in December, reaching 9 degrees one
night and the mid to low teens on several other
nights. To protect our newest planting, we did a
heavy mulch, followed by a quick prune to shorten
plants before covering them with large flower pots
(see photo below). So far the plants look pretty
good, especially compared to their neighbors - which
are basically a cold-hardiness test for seedlings from
our more tender plants. These showed variable
damage (video on Patreon), and we’re looking
forward to seeing how they look after pruning, once
the growing season starts.

“You can’t buy happiness, but

you can buy tea and that’s kind of
the same thing.”

– Author unknown
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Speaking of Tea
We had a great time meeting attendees at the
Carolina Farms Stewards Association annual
meeting (Nov 6), and look forward to hosting
farmers from the conference in January, for a
tour of the gardens and discussion about
growing local tea and tea community.

Next up: Sandy will be talking in February

with MacGregor Downs Garden Club in Cary,
NC, followed by Christine’s presentation on
US-grown tea at the World Tea Expo March 26-
29, in Las Vegas, alongside a “flight” of teas from
across the US!
Christine at the CFSA Conference table
educating Carolina farmers about Camellia sinensis

Tea Studio Updates

Our tea processing studio and community classroom has come a long way - completely
framed, along with a finished deck and roof. Now we’re focusing on electricity and
plumbing, and then the interior finish, furnishings, and equipment set-up. We’ll share
more as things progress - so many exciting developments, and plenty to keep us busy all
winter long and beyond!
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Tea Garden Tips

Winter is a great time to ...

-- Clean tools:
Remove dirt and rust; wash and
dry the metal pieces; add linseed
oil to wooden handles

-- Design future gardens:

Clear a few trees or branches for
more light or make space for new Volunteer at the Tea Gardens!
plantings

There's a lot happening in the tea gardens in
-- Order seeds winter. If you want to help out and work
Flower, vegetable. or tea! alongside us, we reserve Thursday and Sunday)

for volunteers to lend a hand clearing paths,
-- Prune your tea bush: weeding (little weeds and tea sprouts), spreading
Decenter if aged 1 - 2 years mulch, sometimes even drinking tea!
Trim branches 2 - 3 inches or 1-2 Just e-mail at teaflowergardens@gmail.com if
leaves above last year's cut you want to be added to our volunteer list.
Manage height, sides, and low-
hanging branches

Connect
See our winter 2022 Newsletter With Us teaflowergardens.com

for more pruning tips and check

teaflowergardens@gmail.com
out our new pruning workshop in
person or on Patreon! @camelliaforesttea

@CamelliaForestTeaGardens