The newly recognized gardens are:

Goto Camellia Forest Park, Goto Island, near Nagasaki, Kyushu, JAPAN This 110-hectare/ 270 acre park features at its heart the Goto Camellia Garden [5.34 ha/ 13 acres], which was completed in 1998. Approximately 2,200 camellia trees, of more than 270 camellia cultivars, are planted in the garden. There are several dedicated areas within the camellia garden: ‘Tama-no’ura’ and new camellias based on it, fragrant camellias, white camellias, and commemorative camellias among others. Camellias originating in Japan and elsewhere are featured, with labels in Japanese and English or scientific Latin.
Kurume Camellia Garden, Kurume, Kyushu, JAPAN This newly completed garden extends over 3 hectares/ 7.4 acres. About 3,000 old and young camellias, of about 500 cultivars, are planted there, amongst a wealth of plantings including azaleas, maples, rhododendron, Japanese apricots, magnolias, Himalayan cedars, among other genera. The garden utilizes the old camellias which had been growing there before the site was purchased from the former proprietors; some of these original camellias are more than 200 years old.
Camellia Garden of Ishibashi Cultural Center, Kurume, Kyushu, JAPAN This garden graces the grounds that surround the center, where the ICS Congress sessions were held.  Camellias make up the majority of the plantings, with more than 1,500 plants of 260 cultivars and species.  Moreover, the Center accepts donations of camellia plants from the city's residents, with the names of donors clearly shown on the labels, a program that the Center believes will provide opportunities to the donors and other citizens to enjoy the growth of the camellias, and retain their interest in the camellias well into the future.
Villa Anelli, in Oggebio, Lake Maggiore, ITALY The gardens were established in 1872 on the Piedmont side of Lake Maggiore. Its plantings were enhanced by Antonio Sevesi, an early ICS director, and trustee for nearly 50 years. The gardens extend over approximately 0.5 hectare/ 1 acre on both sides of a creek, with many terraces with stone walls.      Ever since its foundation, the history of Villa Anelli has been deeply connected to exotic plants that came from the Far East; within this context, the camellia – the most widely planted species in the garden – stands out.  The camellia collection includes 500 plants of 270 cultivars that bloom in the spring, 40 that bloom in winter, and 30 botanical species. The collection is organized in themes, such as the range of 19th-century cultivars blooming in winter, reticulatas from Yunnan, cultivars of Japanese origin, and so on. Still owned by descendants of the founder of the garden, Villa Anelli is open to the public on weekends in the spring.
Locarno Delegates to the ICS Congress in Locarno in 2005 had a good opportunity to visit the Camellia Park that was being developed by the city, with the conclusion of a first phase, involving planting of 500 varieties of camellias on a 0.5 ha/ 1acre site. Since then, a second construction phase has been completed, doubling the size of the park and adding an amphitheatre and a pavilion with detailed information and educational panels. The gardens now include streams, two small lakes, a waterfall, and more than 1,000 different varieties and species of camellias with a special regard for the old camellias of the Lago Maggiore; nearly all the plants are labeled.
Vergelegen Estate, Somerset West, SOUTH AFRICA Vergelegen Estate was established in February 1700, and is one of four estates that form the backbone of a serial nomination for World Heritage Site status for South Africa's fine-wines region. The estate has a wealth of botanical rarities, including 310-year-old camphor trees. But among the jewels of its 19 gardens are the camellia gardens, which consist of more than 1,000 plants, of approximately 550 cultivars. There are two parts to the camellia gardens. The Barlow plantings consist of classic, pre-1940s C.japonica cultivars, most of which are now large, mature shrubs of up to 5 meters/ 16 ft in height. The Jan van Bergen Collection was established in 1995 when ICS member and retired camellia nurseryman van Bergen donated several plants of each of the cultivars he had imported into South Africa, as well as new selections that he himself had bred. More than 700 plants were gifted to the estate, and planted in specific areas of the historic grounds, in a show camellia garden.

These six gardens join the 11 given the Garden of Excellence designation earlier.  ICS Directors applaud the very high criteria these gardens have met to ensure that  visitors will find an interesting and sizeable collection of camellias, well cared for, attractively planted, and carefully labelled.  In many cases, visitors will be able to obtain a wealth of informative material about camellias -- about the different species, propagation and cultivation techniques, as example.

The ICS Gardens of Excellence and the year in which they were designated are:

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA (2001) The Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, are in Victoria, 1.5 km (1 mile) from the centre of the city.  On an undulating site sloping down to a large lake, there are nine main lawns, semi-enclosed and linked by broad curving paths with plantings along their sides.  They have the finest collection in Australia of plants from southern China and the most comprehensive collection of natives from New Guinea grown here.     More pertinently here, there are about 800 camellias spread throughout the gardens, including approximately 200 in the main camellia bed.  The camellia collection became the National Reference Collection of the Australian Camellia Research Society in 1996, and since then, the main emphasis has been directed to further planting of Australian-raised registered cultivars in the collection.
Chinese Camellia Cultural Park, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, CHINA (2005) In 2002, the officials of Jinhua City, southwest of the provincial capital of Hangzhou, decided to establish a Cultural Park based on an existing park in the city.  The new cultural park combines botanical treasures and leisure activities for the entire family.  It wraps around a series of four lakes, complete with pleasure boats.  It has been planted with more than 20,000 plants of nearly 1,000 varieties of C.japonica, C.sasanqua, and camellia species.  Each plant in the park has been labelled with family, genus and species in both Chinese and Latin.  The gardeners frequently used thick-stem grafting to give plants that gave an immediate effect of mature plantings, to give a feeling of a long-established and mature garden.
Kamelien Paradies, Wingst, GERMANY (2001) Wingst, a small village, is located closed to the coast of the Northern Sea, not far from Hamburg and Bremen.  There, Peter Fischer's Kamelien Paradies has been developed by three generations of dedicated gardeners growing camellias.     Visitors can walk through a beautiful Japanese garden, a rose garden, a garden with herbs, a “Sun-Garden”, an Alpinum and a heather garden.  They also will find a large collection of magnolias and other rare trees and shrubs, but the camellias dominate the entire area.  A “Camellia-Café” is located in the garden, which also houses a gallery with camellia-themed arts and crafts.     The collection of camellias consists of 50 species and 800 cultivars, which are accessible and well-labelled, and they are maintained to a high standard. Some 300 camellias are planted outside in a manner suitable both to the garden and to the climatic conditions of northern Germany.     The main object of the garden, for many years, has been the testing for hardiness under German weather conditions.  For about three decades, many cultivars have been tested for cold resistance.
Tsubakiyama Forest Park, JAPAN (2003) Tsubakiyama Forest Park is located near Miyazaki, on the south island of Kyushu, a high garden in a rural area.  Along the roadsides, immaculate mounds and cushions of azaleas flank camellias and manicured conifers.  The garden itself was planted in 1984 on steep terrain:  some 45,000 plants of several hundred varieties, mainly C.japonica and japonica species.
Antony Woodland Garden, U.K. (2003) Antony Woodland Garden is a long-established garden divided into two areas, covering 60 acres (25 ha) of woodland gardens and natural woodland.  Although many other plants are featured, including rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias, camellias feature strongly in the gardens.  More than 1,000 camellias -- plants of more than 440 cultivars -- are planted throughout the woodland garden in a naturalistic setting.
Marwood Hill Gardens, U.K. (2003) Marwood Hill Gardens were first planted by English gardener Jimmy Smart in the 1960s.   Some 600-700 cultivars and species in the camellia collection are planted throughout the garden hillsides that once had been grass covered, with sheep grazing.  A spectacular hedge of C.x williamsii 'Donation' extends along one field, while the gardening staff is currently working to establish a hedge of wild C.reticulata.
Mount Edgcumbe Country Park and Gardens, U.K. (2003) Mount Edgcumbe, a collection of 16th-century manor house, formal gardens, and country park, spreads over 800 acres (324 ha).  It houses the National Collection of Camellias, and when the garden was designated a garden of excellence, it had more than 1,000 camellias.  The gardening staff, since then, has been adding more, and in the spring of 2006 began planting out a new bed for the Betteley collection, donated by the Betteley family, of the suburbs of London.
Descanso Gardens, U.S.A. (2001) Descanso Gardens is a 60-acre (24 ha) display gardens, of which more than half is dedicated to camellias.  The expanding camellia collection, when the garden received its designation, included 58 species and nearly 800 taxa among the 40,000-50,000 plants.  The gardens were begun in 1936 when Manchester Boddy purchased the tract, then named Rancho de Descanso.  In 1937, he began planting camellias, with a collection of 12 plants.  The garden collection kept growing from that point.  Descanso's gardener Walter Lammerts was instrumental in importing C.reticulata cultivars from the Kunming Institute of Botany in 1948, opening new avenues for camellia hybridizing that have been eagerly explored by California hybridizers, in particular.
Huntington Botanical Gardens, U.S.A.  (2001) The camellia collection of Huntington Botanical Gardens are located in two locations and cover 12 acres (nearly 5 ha) in these extensive gardens.  Many historical camellias are included in the collection, including many introduced to the U.S. West prior to 1900.  Species camellias are scattered about the gardens, but there is also a recently opened area called the Brown Garden, which includes some species.  The gardens also feature a collection of C.japonica Higo camellias, planted in the Japanese Garden, and a large collection of C.sasanqua.
Massee Lane Garden, U.S.A. (2001) Massee Lane is the home of the American Camellia Society, headquartered there since 1968 when the gardens were begun.  The garden was filled with mature camellias, many of which date to the 1930s.  There is also a large greenhouse to hold the more tender camellia varieties, to withstand the rare cold snaps in the otherwise fairly mild climate of Georgia.
Norfolk Botanical Gardens, U.S.A. (2001) During the bleak days of the economic depression in the U.S. in the 1930s, a federal project cleared swamps and vines in Norfolk and planted several thousand azaleas.  This garden was subsequently enlarged to include camellias, which were first planted in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.  The Hofheimer Camellia Garden, dedicated in 1992, contains nearly 550 different camellias, and continues to grow each year.  The combined camellia collection contains almost 900 camellias and more than 2,000 plants, which begin blooming in September with C.sasanquas flowering and end in May with the last C.japonica blooms.