neverspent | November 11: Camellia (Reply)

I found this showy bush hidden in a seldom-visited corner of the zoo last weekend. It didn't look like the kind of thing that should be blooming in November, but then, we've got azaleas and magnolias re-blooming now, so it might not matter. I'd never seen blooms quite like it before, but by process of elimination I concluded it was probably camellia. The flowers, overlapping white blossoms edged with pink surrounding a bushy crown of gold stamens, looked a bit like large wild roses, but the leaves were all wrong: thick, waxy, and very bushy. I don't know anything about camellia except that old cranky Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird grew them and Jem was punished for destroying her bushes; and that tea is a member of the camellia family, so I was picturing trying to brew these thick, shiny leaves and it wasn't very appetizing.

I was able to identify it via the convenience of the internet, of course, and it's camellia, a single flower, very simple variety. Simple and pretty. I'd like to grow one someday, but apparently they are not very drought-tolerant, so they probably would not be a good ecological choice in the summers here.