Family historian Jenny Donohoe and retired fire chief Jim Powell have again won national trophies for their camellias, which are home-grown in Helensburgh.

The NSW Camellia Society’s Show, held at Ravenswood School at Gordon NSW on July 8 and 9, was also the host for the Camellias Australia’s National Show. This year Jim Powell and Jenny Donohoe won two of the six national trophies.

Their bloom of Buttons N’ Bows won the USA trophy for Best USA Bred Camellia and their bloom of Takanini won the Best New Zealand Bred Camellia. As this was a National Show, there were more than 700 Camellias competing for the six national trophies, making it very competitive.

Out of their 7 boxes of Camellia blooms, apart from the two national trophies, the pair had two Champion NSW Trophies for the Best Single Form Camellia with Saga-Honami and the Best Informal Double Camellia with Mark Alan Variegated along with 36 other 1st and 2nd Class Ribbons. So all in all they had a very successful Camellia show.

At the Camellias Australia Presentation Dinner held on the Monday night, Jim was awarded the Walter Hazlewood Medal of Honour by Camellias Australia for his 48 years of outstanding service to the organisation. Jim has also taken on the president’s role for the second time at Camellias Australia.