Monday, February 6, 2012

A Wonderful Winter White Camellia

DSCN0867
As it is so often happens here in Tiger Gardens I am surprised by what is blooming in the garden. No surprise is as grand as a five foot tall white camellia in full bloom as viewed in the woodland garden. What a shock it was for me to find this camellia blooming! Usually this white camellia (and the other spring blooming camellias here) will get zapped by a freeze. I expect at some point this one will too but for the moment I am reveling it its glory.
DSCN0869
Camellias are quite easy for us to grow here in northern Middle Tennessee. I've been growing them since 2003 even when our zone was classified as a 6B. I was told by many gardeners and at least one camellia expert that you can't grow camellias in Zone 6B. Enter the USDA and their new updated zone charts. My zone went from a 6B to a 7A. I guess that now explains why I can grow camellias-tongue in cheek of course. If you wish to read about how I grow my camellias you can check this previous post
DSCN0870
Skeeter posted about her white camellia and how it always gets zapped by a freeze. I find the white camellia blooms do look the worst once they are frozen. It's a messy sight. With gardening we don't always have only happy days in the garden and on this blog we like to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. While frozen blooms are not necessarily bad or ugly, they aren't always good. I expect this stunning shrub and its blooms will be here but for a fleeting moment because freezing temperatures are in this week's forecast.
DSCN0872
If you wish to grow camellias you need to be aware of the types of camellias you can grow. Predominantly there are japonicas and sasanquas. I personally like the sasanquas for my garden here. Once you know what kind of camellia you would like to grow you then need to know whether your chosen camellia is a fall or spring bloomer. There are fall blooming and spring blooming camellias. The words fall and spring are really not too terribly applicable because the camellias, at least in my experience, bloom during the winter. But! When I refer to fall and spring you can expect 'fall' bloomers to bloom before the end of the calendar year and the spring bloomers will bloom in the new calendar year. I have had fall bloomers bloom anywhere from October to December, and spring bloomers will bloom anywhere from February to May. Again, spring and fall blooming words to describe camellias are relative. If you wish for a sure bloom with longevity then I suggest you get a fall blooming sasanqua camellia. The fall blooming sasanquas seem to avoid or at least withstand the freezes better than the spring bloomers. They have worked best for me.
DSCN0873
The winter bloomers sure can be stunning though. The evergreen leaves add so much to a landscape even when the camellia is not in bloom.
DSCN0874
The bloom of a camellia tree is something that can be indescribable. The camellia bloom is for sure a most rewarding part of winter gardening. I could not imagine a southern garden without a camellia.
DSCN0876
The wonderful white of this unknown camellia ties in with winter so very well and even if we don't have snow I still have the winter white of a camellia....


in the garden....

Every spring since 2002 I have marveled at the peeping frogs here in my neighborhood. For me the spring peepers signify spring and guess what? I heard the first peepers of the season Saturday night, February 4th. Spring is near. On warm nights I'll sometimes sleep with my bedroom window open just so I can drift off to sleep listening to the very loud peepers calling....

in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

17 comments:

  1. Beautiful Camellia...we are still waiting winter here..

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sure is a pretty sight. Wish we had something that bloomed in our cold winters. However, there has not been much cold this winter and I wonder what that has done to the economy for the state. Ice fishing derbys, winter carnivals, sled dog races and many other winter activities have had to be cancelled. Not even any skating on the mall this year. Seems funny to ride down Main Street and not seeing kids enjoying the ice skating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Camellia did great for me this year! With our mild winter, I had blooms for a long time. I just went outside to peek at them and see white buds still on them. Doubt they will bloom but strange to see white color this late in the season for them...

    We had the bedroom window open last night as we slept! It was 78 degrees yesterday and the house was warm. Today a different story as it is cool out there. Burrrr... The birds and plants are confused with our mild winter. Birds chirping and getting into the nesting mode and the plants waking up from a short winters nap.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful pictures of one of my favorite flowers! And some great information on them, too. Thank you! Hurray for those peepers! Spring is on its way!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tina,

    The white camellia is a wow! Glad it did not freeze this year. I've just killed one white camellia in our garden. Been hearing Chorus frogs here rarely hear peepers thus far. Soon that will change.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful flower. Thanks for the info. Mine must be a Fall blooming plant as it started in Jan. & is full of beautiful pink blooms. The ground underneath is solid pink.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Blooming? That's not a word I hear very often next to "winter". :-) Beautiful photos and great info as always. Thank you very much.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My first sign of spring coming is not the peepers, but the blooming of the red maples (Acer rubrum). I saw my first two weeks ago, about 6 weeks earlier than normal.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely camellia, and lucky it made it to bloom with the crazy weather everywhere. We have been pretty lucky too this season with plants staying dormant, but who knows for how long with the weather in the upper 40's.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your white camellia! It is gorgeous. I have several camellias, but not a white one. I think they are the most elegant looking ones, though. So glad you got such a nice surprise!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What an absolutely gorgeous white bloom. My Camellias are pretty small, only Yuletide has bloomed. The deer or bunnies nibbled on some of the buds.
    We have had the spring peepers for a couple weeks, I was really surprised to hear them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree it is interesting to publish the good bad and ugly but this post is all-good.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sigh...These are such beautiful blooms, Tina; I wish I could grow them here in my zone 5b garden, but I think that might be pushing it. Excellent advice for anyone lucky enough to be able to grow these beauties.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely blooms so striking against the dark green foliage...I would be shocked to hear the peepers...I am seeing herons and new nests...so strange

    ReplyDelete
  15. So beautiful Tina! I've never seen a camellia in real life, we are too far north. They look a lot like roses, but aren't fragrant, right?

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a fun surprise: camellias in winter! I love them too. It's still cold and icy here in Maine. I'm off to my kids' Nordic Ski race this afternoon.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hallo tina

    Your white camellias look so pure elegant and beautiful! In "La Traviata(La Dame aux camelias), the heroine always puts a white camellia flower in her hair or on her dress. The one I saw in the movie looked just like the same type in this post!!

    ReplyDelete

ALL SPAM WILL BE PROMPTLY FRIED. PLEASE DO NOT LIFT PHOTOS OR WORDS. THANKS!