Camellias are my winter roses.
The large bloom is ‘White by the Gate.’ It will have a few blooms at a time all winter.
The smaller pink is ‘Jean May.’ She has been blooming for months and will continue until a hard freeze.
I love them both for blooms in the cold. Such a sweet winter treat!
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The blooms always stop me. I have to pause by each shrub. I must touch a flower.
White By the Gate is blooming for the third time since February.
Professor Sargent’s blooms are too heavy for its limbs.
Each looks like it belongs on a lapel, perfectly round and tight with petals. Just add a pin.
Perfectly formed. Too pretty to pick.
I will take some to my mama if the freeze does not burn them brown.
How could something so beautiful just appear here? All I did was plant a twig.
If you are a gardener, you understand my amazement.
Miracles appear each day in spring.
Bringing me back to life.
Hold on folks. Spring is sneaking your way. HOORAY!
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I am grateful for the winter blooms of ‘White by the Gate’, Camellia japonica.
If it were not for the nip in the air I would swear it was spring by looking at it in full bloom.
This steadfast bloomer is striking with its dark green, glossy leaves and pure white, double blooms.
Could it be any more beautiful?
I love this lovely “rose of winter.”
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It is dreary and misty here, but I had to get out.
The garden calls despite the weather.
The whites were bright today.
This is their time to shine.
It is lovely to spy some white on a dark day.
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It is hard work protecting my precious plants from the local deer herd.
I have to be diligent. If I wait, it is too late.
This week I noticed the front of my ‘Professor Sargent’ Camellia japonica was missing.
Yes. the entire front of an evergreen shrub had been eaten overnight.
Good thing I keep a selection of posts and fencing handy.
Now Professor Sargent’s front and flowers will be safe.
I circled the yard to check on ‘White by the Gate.’
It was safe and blooming inside its year-round fencing.
Edgworthia also has its own enclosure.
I am not sure if the flowers would get eaten, but the leaves were nibbled on last fall.
I guess I will start enclosing my daylilies as they sprout.
No point in growing snacks for the local wildlife!
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My two Camellia japonicas blooming has reminded me of a fairy tale,
Snow White and Rose Red (Schneettweichen und Rosenrot).
My sister and I had some relation to this story.
She was a redhead and I a blond.
That is where the link ends…I hope.
As with most fairy tales,
the good little girls turn the monster (bear) into a prince and marry him and his brother.
Mothers, let’s rewrite these PLEASE.
Leave in the good and kind,
but change the reward to a self-fulfilling ending instead of a wedding.
(No offense Princes.)
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floweralley 