Winter in the Midwest can yield dreary landscapes with dormant trees and bare lands. Evergreen shrubs and trees provide the only bits of color, green. This month I learned that in the “lowlands”, aka the southern U.S., where landscapes never lack for multicolorful accents, there is an evergreen that produces flowers during the late fall to mid-spring months. The southern U.S. doesn’t “need” these flowering evergreen to cheer the soul during winter’s long months as do the grey days in the northern states. But the Camellia still bring a welcome cheer to any home’s southern garden. Copyright 2021Camellia flowers remind me of the silken petals of Roses and Peonies, soft and lush. Put those rich blooms alongside waxy evergreen leaves and they seem extra plush. Copyright 2021 Pamela BreitbergMy Camellia images today were taken in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. At times I felt like they guided my travels south. Their sightings were a perfect holiday blessing from nature. Copyright 2021 Pamela BreitbergCamellia are considered a small tree. Some flowers have a couple layers of petals and some, as here, have many lush layers of beauty. Copyright 2021 Pamela BreitbergJust plain beautiful, even when the blooms of the Camellia are toward the end of their bloom cycle and ready for petals to fall. Copyright 2021 Pamela Breitberg
Beautiful vibrant color.