Discover America! 

Welcome all ICS Members,

You are warmly invited to the 2027 International Camellia Congress in America! This Congress will partly coincide with the national convention of the American Camellia Society, offering a rare opportunity to attend a joint meeting of the world’s two largest camellia organizations.

The Main Congress will feature an outstanding educational program with top experts in the field. Tour options will include amazing gardens, area attractions, and a visit to the campus of the American Camellia Society, with its ICS Garden of Excellence, historic library, museum, conference center, theater, gift shop, greenhouses, and more. 

We also recommend the outstanding Pre- and Post-Congress Tours in two charming coastal cities that are famous for camellias. We will be staying in first-class hotels and, as always, you can expect great food, fellowship, speakers, entertainment, networking, and a chance to meet and honor some very special camellia people who will be our guests.

The inheritance left to us by America’s pioneers is a spirit of adventure, creativity, and individualism as expressed by our fascination with iPhones, Facebook, Coca-Cola, the Beach Boys, moon landings, and — did someone say camellias!? How else could a new nation produce the most ICR registrations to date? The answer, like nearly every American story, is truly an international story. 

No better example exists than Professor Gao Jiyin’s current partnership with the American Camellia Society to introduce China’s new four-season hybrids to the American market – which you will see during a Pre-Congress Tour of the nursery trials where they are being commercially grown. Professor Gao once wrote, in a 1990 ICS Journal article, that camellias are like an “air bridge” uniting us all from different nations -- through meetings, publications, and exchanges. 

Professor Gao’s words are a fitting reminder that the ICS, in its 65 illustrious years, has endured many periods of global uncertainty. It is in such times that our meetings are more important than ever. 

Please consider this a heartfelt invitation from your host, the American Camellia Society, to join us for the International Camellia Congress in 2027. We promise you a memorable anniversary celebration! 

Sincerely,
The American Camellia Society
Host for the 2027 ICS Congress
 

An Invitation from Florence Crowder

 The following letter was written by the late Florence Crowder, our beloved former Vice-President, before her death. We attach it here, in her honor. Florence greatly looked forward to hosting the ICS Congress in America