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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Karma karma karma karma karma Camellia

You may remember my post about some Camellia sasanqua 'MonDel' that weren't looking their best.  When I came across this Camellia sasanqua 'Sho-No-Sake' in Windmill's garden looking beautiful even when covered with frost,  I thought it only fair to show how lovely these easy to grow (in our climate and acid soil)  gems really are.

In case you'd like a little music to go with the Camellia fest -
 
 
 









Later, while visiting another nursery, I came across these sasanquas.  The sasanquas bloom from late fall through winter, some overlap with the bloom time of the larger Camellia japonicas(late winter through spirng.)
Sorry I didn't get the varieties of all of these but, like the hummingbirds that seemed to be all over the place, I was flitting from flower to flower thinking each one was lovelier than the last.  Sorry about that, intoxicated by spring thoughts.  I promise to try to be more plant geeky in the future.
Those stamens are flirting with you.



These are a little more modest.


I had to include the C. sasanqua 'MonDel', 'Pink Yuletide' or (groan) 'Pink-A-Boo'
 
 
This sweetie is Camellia hiemalis 'Chansonette.'



A first sighting this season of  Camellia japonicas.  (If you live in an area where these don't grow, simply get a bolt of crepe paper, without unrolling it, trace a 3" circle on the paper.  Now put a staple in the middle of the circle and with scissors, cut along the line that you traced.  Once cut out, bring each circle of the crepe up toward what will be the center of the flower.  You can pull at the edges a little and crumple the crepe to get a more natural look.  Make many of these and paper clip them to whatever shrub you can see out of your kitchen window (the one over the sink that you look out of while doing the dishes.)  This will surely chase away the winter blues or at least get you placed in a room with fashonably padded walls where you'll be nice and warm in you special jacket. 
C. japonica 'Spring's Promise'   I love this one with that big boss of yellow stamens.  None of the japonicas in my garden or around town are blooming yet.  I'm thinking that these have been in a very protected area.


Loree (read about her camellia here)  and Louis recently posted about their first plant purchases of 2013. What was my first plant purchase of 2013?
  "Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream, red gold and green, red gold and green."
Karma karma karma karma karma Camellia..."  (sasanqua 'Yuletide')

23 comments:

  1. Awesome flower pictures, Peter! Beautiful.

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  2. Pretty, and oh so clever. I miss camellias this time of year.

    Off to search my stash of supplies for crepe paper!

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  3. Oh, Peter, I would like to have one of these beauties in my garden!

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    1. Good mornig Nadezda. They are lovely and I'm very fortunate to live in a place with such mild winters.

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  4. I need to figure out the perfect place to plant one. My first was in too much shade to flower, although I probably should have given it longer. I love the pink ones, especially that white flower with pink touches. Yes, sometimes the flowers collapse with all our rain, but when it isn't raining (like today), I bet they are very cheerful!

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    1. My sasanqua even looks nice in the rain! This is my third. The first one got planted in a shady area which is where C. japonicas do just fine but sasanquas not so much, moved it at the wrong time of the year, dead. Second one got planted in a much sunnier area but a couple of neighboring plants decided to have an unexpected growth spirt this summer and created more shade than it wants. I've decided not to move #2 but divide the neighboring plants and wait until the camellia gets larger. This new one will remain in a pot for a while.

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  5. It's nice to see these blooms on a dreary winters evening. And Boy George will be proud of you :)

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    1. It's easy to go crazy for color, any color, in the winter! I live to make Boy George happy:)

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  6. Ahh... the songs of my 80's teendom. The first camellia's name just sounds like a line from a movie/TV show. "You got sake?" "No, I show no sake. Only beer." Love them all! Home today on a snow day! Woo-hoo!!! :o)

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    1. Snow day?! You lucky dog! Did you get the blizzard you were craving?

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  7. Congrats on joining the January new plant club! Where will you plant your new baby?

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    1. Thanks! I also got a couple of Euphorbia 'Rudolphs' because they looked so cute on your post. This guy will stay in a pot and live over in the semi-sunny compost area during the summer and in the fall it will occupy a spot by the back door vacated by an inside bound brugmansia.

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  8. Hooray!!!! I love your camellia!!!! When I saw it I was like "that's the best one, I hope he bought it!" And then I read the text and was filled with joy.

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    1. I'm glad you like it Louis! It'll make a colorful addition to my rather winter-blah garden. Are you coming down for the Seattle Flower and Garden Show in February?

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  9. No plant purchases yet for 2013. It's early yet. Your photos make me crave color though. Gorgeous!

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    1. It is early. I always thought that visiting nurseries in the winter was a great thing to do but never really got around to doing it until this year, because of the blog. It's been wonderful to see what different nurseries do in the fall and winter.
      Thanks. I've gotta figure out how to manually close the aperature to obtain greater depth of field. On the good old film camera you just did it but with this digital thing ya gotta push some buttons 'n' stuff.

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  10. We have snow here... Maybe I should make paper chameleons, I mean camellias.

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  11. I can completely understand why you would have a camellia as your first purchase of 2013. These are wonderful plants. I have a few (bought late last year) that haven't been planted out yet. Before this post, though, I always thought that northerners couldn't have camellias. But with your instructions, they could have camellias blooming on every plant in their garden! :) They would be the envy of the neighborhood!

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    1. If they wanted to really make a statement,I bet they could use silk flowers and have year round color.

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  12. You have purchased my favorite sasanqua.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.