Camellias are the big pay off in winter in Tallahassee. They are beautiful, showy flowers on a bush which can get quite large–up to about 20′ tall. Although they are native to Asia, they thrive in the acid soil in our area. We are lucky enough to have about 15 planted around our home.
I thought I would post one picture each week of February, of some of my favorites, along with a little tidbit of info–this is from Wikipedia:
The Japanese Camellia (C. japonica) is the state flower of Alabama as well as the city flower of Sacramento, California, Newberg, Oregon, Slidell, Louisiana, the Chinese municipality Chongqing and of Matsue City in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It is also an emblematic flower of New Zealand. Camellia reticulata is the floral embem of Yunnan province.
Here’s one of my favorite varieties, called “Pink Perfection” which I photographed from my neighbor’s bush a few days ago, before we had hard freezes. The below freezing temperatures bruise the flowers with brown spots.