Over The Past Few Nights We Have Been Watching A Yew At Kew,

so in a happy happenstance I came across this article, the 'Middlemist's Red' has put on its most spectacular display in many years, it is one of the world's rarest camellias, it lived through the Battle of Trafalgar, survived the reign of Victoria and escaped unharmed from a Blitz bomb, brought from China to England more than 200 years ago, it is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to the restoration of its 19th century conservatory at Chiswick House, west London, the plant was collected in 1804 by London gardener John Middlemist and given to Kew Gardens, it was moved to its present home some time after 1823, the 300ft long conservatory was built for the sixth Duke of Devonshire in 1813, but became sadly neglected, it was a ruin, however a £12.1million restoration project is nearly complete, today the conservatory is home to 36 camellias, what is even more amazing is that the collection includes seven so rare that they have not even been identified, more of A Year At Kew Tonight.