Making it Grow TV Host and Film Crew Come to Town

Friday was an exciting day for Camellia Club members as they hosted Amanda McNulty, the star of Making it Grow, a well known garden show on South Carolina ETV.  She and her crew came to Edgefield to film the camellias and its history and brought with them a drone to assist.

The group first met at the Discovery Center and were hosted by Jean Price as they organized for the day. Lady Hodges and Jayne Rainsford were among the club greeters.  At the Center they saw the video available to everyone, The History of Camellias in Edgefield County. Lunch followed at the Grill as the group set their sites on the flowers to come.

The surprise of the day was the drone which really was in action, as reported by club members, at the Billy Cantelou Gardens (home of Bill and Kate Lowish), one of four gardens chosen to be highlighted in the film. The other three were the Joe Holland Gardens on Columbia Road in Edgefield, now under the care of Nick Scavens; the Edwin Folk Gardens, now owned and cared for by the Visith family, on Buncombe Street; the D. L. Wise Gardens, cared for by his daughter Clarice at Darby in Trenton, enclosed in its own white fence, and where the Edgefield aficionado of the camellia, Henrietta Humphreys, was interviewed.

The history that Henrietta gave inspired the schedule for a viewing of the gardens, focusing on the four men who were most active in the camellia world in the 40s and 50s, the four named above.

Each garden held special beauties and special contributions to the Edgefield history of camellias. At the Holland garden it was noted that the Camellia Tea began with Joe Holland when he was president of the Camellia Society. In Trenton, at Darby, they heard of the love of camellias, noted in a quote by D. L. Wise: “I don’t drink, smoke or chase women but I don’t mind paying for camellias.”  Of special interest in the Folk (Visith) garden were: the oldest camellia bush in Edgefield, Lilyii Folkii, and the tall camellia that reached to the second floor of the home where Mr. Folk would pick a blossom for his wife.

At the Cantelou garden, the drone seemed to focus more on the beauty of the ornamental carvings on the, now, Lowish house, while the crew of three — Craig Ness, Operations Manager ETV Sumter, and assistants Tommy and Sean– kept close to the c. 100 camellia plants placed there by Rainsford (Billy) Cantelou.

And who should be passing on his way to offer services to a customer but a gardener fond of McNulty’s show – Caleb Parker of Parker Exterminating!  Exuding his passion for gardening and a show that he often watches on SCETV, he stopped his vehicle, jumped out, and went straight to Amanda McNulty to warmly welcome her to Edgefield with, “I have always wanted to meet you!”

The viewing of the film will be given next year, prior to the Camellia Tea, on the program, making it grow.