Camellias
This is a rather fine flower from a camellia of which I am not fond. It looks better this year because I have disdubbed it every time I went near it. I don’t know the variety. Thom gave it to me years ago. It looked fine when it was in a grove of pines, but now that the pines are gone, it is the most prominent feature of the front garden, at least as viewed from the house. It is large, and red and green with no subtlety.
It is usually said that camellias like shade, but this one is now in full sun and seems to love it. Admittedly the red ones are said to tolerate sun better than paler ones. This one is growing rapidly and never gets mold or scale or any of the usual woes. Despite the fact that it displeases me visually, I can’t bring myself to cut it down because it is so healthy. The other shrubs and trees that have been rather randomly chosen to take over from the pines are still pretty small. Maybe the camellia will be less intrusive when they get bigger.
I have a rose like that. It’s a bit too bright, very hot pink, but it’s so healthy that I continue to live with it. Your camellia is beautiful too, but I know exactly what you mean about its lack of subtlety.
Comment by Pam/Digging — February 11, 2008 @ 11:35 am
Sigh….all you lovely southern bloggers are writing about camellias, which of course I can’t grow…but they do make me feel better, given the 8-10 inches of new snow we have.
Comment by jodi — February 11, 2008 @ 11:40 am
No camellias at all here.
Like Jodi, I enjoy seeing yours though. I’m glad you kept it and just look - it gave you another thing to blog about! 
Comment by Kylee — February 11, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
I am not going to sympathize Jodi and Kylee. You can grow rhododendrons, peonies, forsythia, and bearded irises. I miss all of them very much.
I have a friend who feels you should not worry about how camellias look in the landscape. They tend to be handsome when not in flower, but messy when in flower. She says just pick the flowers and bring them indoors.
Comment by karen — February 12, 2008 @ 7:51 am
My camellia has no sublety either, Karen - but at least it grows and blooms.
We share similar lists of things we miss from Northern gardens, but I’d have to add lilacs and most campanula and hostas to mine. I guess we need multiple gardens in different places to have it all.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Comment by Annie in Austin — February 12, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Think of this bright red, blowsy flower as the character of Eleanor Lavish from “Room with a View”. Bold, outspoken and unashamed of her pulchritude!
Comment by Deb Strange — February 18, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Love it! That’s a great thought. Trouble is, I love that imagery for the single flower, but it doesn’t work for the whole bush. (I can’t bear to publish a photo of that.)
Comment by karen — February 19, 2008 @ 9:22 am
I love camellias. Just planted two this spring. I didn’t realize that the red ones did better in the sun than the paler varieties. Thanks for the tip!
Comment by Susan — February 19, 2008 @ 11:16 am
So they say, but I must say I have never tried a pink of white one in full sun.
Comment by karen — February 19, 2008 @ 11:32 am
Lovely shots. You have some of my favorite plants here. The jasmine is definitely L. Polyanthus
BTW: It looks fabulous co-planted with Hardenbergia. The bloom at the same time around here (Santa Barbara, CA).
Also, did you know that the right column of your blog obscures much of the main section of you posting.?
Right now, I can’t see what I’m typing past the word “definitely” in the first column.
I’m viewing it in Microsoft Internet Explorer on a 17″ Dell monitor. Just thought you might want to check.
And thanks for your comments at my blog. BG (GWG)
Comment by Billy Goodnick — February 25, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Many thanks, Billy. I wonder if Hardenbergia would grow here? I have admired it in many California gardens, but haven’t seen it in the southeast. I shall have to try.
Oh blast. Curses on IE. I shall have to investigate that on the office Windows machine. Thanks very much for the tip.
Comment by karen — February 26, 2008 @ 8:22 am