>A new romance

>My love affair with my camellia continues. Since this is my first winter where I have the camellia to brighten up my day, I find myself entranced with it, seeing all of these new blooms everyday and the old ones fading to a dusty pink with washes of gold as the petals die. And I find it so hard to fathom that this little bush loves winter weather, loves the “almost” freezes that we have been getting. To see color like this in winter just melts my brain-makes me want to start planting all sorts of things.

Enough talk, let’s gaze…

OK, I’ve had my fix for the day.

>January Bloom Day- -Late Post!

>I was in bed yesterday nursing what I feared might be strep throat, so I missed the posting for January Bloom Day. But I thought I would just post a bit late (good news, throat is on the mend!).

My new beds are finally planted (although I have yet to reveal them in a post). One of the plants in the bed off my patio is a dwarf pomegranate. It’s little waxy flowers are so bright and cheerful on a gray day like today.

My yellow rose is taking a break but a tiny white climber that I brought from my old house is loving the cold weather.

Interesting that the exact same bush has this flower, a bit pinker in its infancy

I couldn’t resist buying this beautiful deep red lantana to put in the new bed along the driveway. They are such reliable bloomers and this color is so unusual

I saw this iris bloom yesterday and was so excited to include it. But the rains pummeled it last night so it is looking a bit worse for wear.

My camellia bush continues to open blooms one after another, just lining up to show their itty bitty pink faces

And dang, if I can’t get a crystal clear photo of these blooms. This one was just gorgeous light pink with a hint of yellow. I’ll try again tomorrow

The Mutabilis rose is the only one blooming right now but it has about 6 flowers right now and a few more buds, of course all in different colors ranging from light pink to yellow. This color change is the trademark of the Mutabilis rose.

This “bloomer” is showing off right now. Nandina is full of berries just glowing and nestled in it’s dramatic foliage.

In the vegetable garden, I have lettuces and chards growing. But the peas are the bloomers right now.

Climbing their livestock panel trellis, they are sending out blooms which quickly turn into peas.

I question whether I will have enough to actually serve in a meal, but even if not, they are fun to munch straight from the vine.

The weather will turn colder end of this week, temps down below freezing at night for a few nights. We have been in the 60s and 70s during the day, but our next few days will be 40s and 50s.

>Hello Darling!

>My camellia finally came out of hiding. It’s been teasing me day after day with a snail-like pace of opening. Two days ago, this is what I saw

and then today, I rushed out to check it out and behold…

You might recall I have not seen this camellia bloom since we inherited it in the move two years ago. It was potted and would bud but then lose all the buds. I have recently transplanted it and , bottom line, learned a bit more about camellia and the conditions they like. I believe I was overwatering it before and I finally gave it a full shady spot this year so as not to scorch it. And it has thanked me by showing this beautiful bloom and having about 25 more buds waiting to open.

Thank you, precious plant. Sorry it took me so long to figure you out!