Botanica Atlanta - Landscape Design, Construction & Maintenance

At the last meeting of the Atlanta Permaculture Meetup group, one of the leaders of the group mentioned that black tea grows very well in our neck of the woods. I decided to do some research and found some facts that I thought were very interesting.

Tea Camellia (Camellia sinensis)

First of all, the plant from which black tea is made (that's the regular "tea bag" type of tea found in the grocery store) is the Camellia sinensis. According to this article, the Southeast has excellent growing conditions for this plant but, for some reason that is unknown to me, it is only being grown on one farm in Charleston, SC. The article also says that green tea and oolong tea are made from this same plant. The only difference is in the processing of the leaves.

Also at our last meeting, I remember someone asking me if olives can be grown in Georgia. I found out that olive trees don't flourish in humid climates or in slow-draining soils (like clay), so I suppose it would be futile to attempt to grow them here. But I also found out that another type of Camellia can be used to make an oil that is very similar to olive oil. Here is an article about it. The oil is made from the seeds of the Camellia oleifera and is the primary cooking oil used in Southern China. All that is needed to extract the oil is a hand-cranked expeller like this one.

As of 2002, this plant was being grown on a trial basis near Savannah to determine if oil production from it is viable for Georgia. Here is an article about that. I am going to try to contact the man who wrote the article to see if I can find out the results of the trial.

All of the Camellias are well-suited to the Georgia climate and soil, so it seems that anyone could produce his own tea and olive oil substitute right here. And all of the camellias are densely growing evergreens that display showy flowers and glossy green foliage when most plants are barren, so you get a plant that beautifies the landscape and produces useful substances as well. In addition, as far as I know, none of the Camellias require full sun and all are relatively pest and disease resistant, so it seems to me that they are ideal for a forest garden setting if they get a good daily dose of filtered sunlight or a woodland edge where they get half a day of direct sunlight.