This Tiny Garden In Downtown Mobile, Alabama, Is Home To Over 325 Camellia Cultivars

For many people in Mobile, the name Vaughan Drinkard is synonymous with camellias, as over 325 varieties grow at Cornerstone Gardens, the downtown retreat that he and his wife, Linda, opened in 2016. But Vaughan’s affection for the flower, often called “the queen of winter,” was instilled in him long before. He grew up surrounded by the blooms and even grafted his first plant before age 10, thanks to his father, Blanding Vaughan Drinkard Sr., and his grandfather Cliff Harris. “Pop was a master jeweler by trade, but mostly he loved flowers, especially camellias,” says Vaughan about his grandfather.

Cliff’s enthusiasm for the winter blooms trickled down to his son-in-law Blanding, who had briefly studied botany and horticulture prior to joining the Marines. After returning to Alabama following his military service, Blanding began working at Longview Nursery in 1950. Cliff had bought it from Robert “Bob” Rubel. “Rubel was nationally recognized at the time for his camellia knowledge. By luck of the draw, Dad came to be his head nurseryman and learned camellia nomenclature and know-how from him,” says Vaughan. “It was just how fate handles things sometimes.”

Having purchased the rights to all the flowers in the nursery, Cliff had the honor, through a national contest, of selecting and naming a Camellia japonica after Queen Elizabeth II, who had recently ascended the throne. On March 22, 1954, two of the ‘Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’ camellias were shipped to be planted in the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle. “Pop also patented many flowers, which he named after his friends and family members—including Walter Bellingrath and me, his 3-year-old grandson at the time,” says Vaughan. “At one point, he had the largest number of camellia patents.”

Blanding went on to have his own nursery with the winter beauty as his focus. “Dad was a camellian. He lived and breathed the plant,” says Vaughan. “He really spread the love of them in the local community by giving many away and hosting grafting seminars on the back of his pickup truck.” Some who learned from Blanding later wrote books about the bloom and grew impressive gardens themselves, which is how he quickly became known as “Mobile’s dean of camellias.” “Dad created and hybridized countless cultivars, naming many after the family, my sisters, and my daughter,” adds Vaughan.

Vaughan’s journey with camellias wasn’t quite so linear, as he pursued a law career, but his lifelong admiration for the state flower of Alabama never wavered. “In 2015, I retired for about a minute,” he jokes. “But during that time Linda and I were asking ourselves, ‘How can we give back to the Lord, other than through church work?’ ” The couple decided to refurbish the carriage house behind their home (where Vaughan had lived as a child) to create a nonprofit respite where pastors and missionaries could stay for a little R & R. (The two-bedroom accommodations are also available for rent through Airbnb.)

“Next to the old house was an 80- by 400-foot strip of land that had been empty for years, so I decided to also build a nice garden and dedicate it to the pastors,” explains Vaughan about the origins of Cornerstone Gardens. “I had no idea the public would go wild about it. People would be looking through the fence, so one day, my wife said, ‘Would y’all like to come in and see the gardens?’ And since then, we’ve opened them four days a week.”

Beauty can be found there in every season. The British Garden facing the main road, Government Street, was the first to be planted in 2016, then the Japanese Woodlands Garden that’s tucked in the back. “We have to be creative with the space, so there are a lot of smaller gardens within the primary ones,” he says. These include a spot for herbs (which Linda keeps), an area for roses, a shade garden, and a succulent section, plus a koi pond in the center of the property. “There is something almost spiritual about running water,” Vaughan says.

There’s also a special quality to the camellias themselves. “They are the real showstoppers of the wintertime,” says the passionate gardener, who grafted over half the plants himself and inherited numerous others from his father. “I have about 325 cultivars of camellias in the garden now. Many are very fine varieties of both the past and present.”

Camellia Varieties Found In The Gardens

‘Bob Rubel’

“Pop patented this one himself,” says Vaughan. “Rubel started the seed and flower under his control, but Pop named it to honor him.”

‘Faye Roan’

“Dad knew Mrs. Roan (my mother-in-law) loved pink, so he said, ‘When my next acceptable pink seed comes out, I’ll name it after her,’ ” Vaughan recalls.

‘Mrs. Cliff Harris’

“The touch of white variegation is part of the flower’s color system,” explains Vaughan about the spots on this selection, which was named after his grandmother. “Once a bud has them, there are some on every bloom, but they always look different.”

Visiting Cornerstone Gardens

The American Camellia Society has recognized Cornerstone Gardens as part of the American Camellia Trail Gardens—one of only six in Alabama. Visitors are welcome most Thursdays through Sundays, with camellia season typically running from late November through March and often peaking in late January. “If you want to come another time, we’re happy to open the gardens to you. Just knock on my office next door,” says Vaughan, who also hosts a handful of Saturday-morning grafting classes each season.