Camellia and Helleborus collage... after the rain stopped...

I added a Helleborus close-up to complete this collage because I only had three Camellia images. This Camellia of mine produces all three of the bloom types you see here... it is really quite wonderful. And for the first time this past fall, it produced late fall, early winter blossoms as well as being COVERED with a profusion of spring blossoms right now.

A master gardener (which I am not) told me I should seriously prune this bush back since it is now over six feet tall. Since I have no clue when/how to prune it, I've let it continue to grow. It does need pruning so I'll research how to do it. When we get heavy, wet snow (as we did the past two winters), the entire plant bows down and kisses the driveway from it's perch a couple of feet above it in a raised bed along the side of the house.

Two Confused Camellia blossoms for your viewing pleasure...

This time of year, thoughts turn to the weather because the garden goes dormant and we have to wait until spring for color in the garden. BUT, our weather this fall has been unseasonably warm and my spring blooming Camellia has decided to bloom now instead of waiting until spring. It's quite lovely with white, bi-color pink and white (as you see here with just a splash of pink, but sometimes much more pink than white) and even a few solid pinks now and then. I fear this means I'll have no blossoms in spring so I've been out photographing a few this past week to have the images to enjoy now and again in spring.

I don't normally post two images but as I was typing the above image caption, I realized maybe you'd like to see the mostly pink blossom as well as the white and I have WAY more images than I have time to post them! The pink image is a touch out of focus because those blossoms are in a spot where I have to balance precariously in order to photograph them.

Camellia in bud... promise of spring! March 16, 2010

My neighbor's Camellia gets morning sun this time of year. It will be a another month or so before my Camellia (situated on the western side of our shared, north-south facing driveway) gets any sun. At this time last year, my Nikon D90 SLR and macro lens were yet to come, so this is a much closer view of the lovely, fuzziness of the bud's outer covering than any shots I took last year with my Nikon Coolpix P80. I should probably post something green for St. Patrick's Day and MAY post two images if I find something suitable a bit later today.

Camellia ... photographed in the Blue Mountains in Australia, New South Wales

It's still winter in the Blue Mountains but their winter is not quite like ours... all kinds of flowers blooming and it seems as if it is spring already here!