Places in our hearts
I photographed this camellia from our yard on January 15, 2003.
“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.” — Gertrude S. Wister
When we first moved to Virginia, I was delighted that the home we bought featured several camellias along the back fence. They’ve grown impressively large, and since they bloom in winter, they add color during some dreary days. We had camellias in California, too; even in the milder winters there, where many types of flowers bloom year round, I always enjoyed their striking beauty.
I loved camellias even before I realized that TEA comes from a plant in that family!
Wherever you are, I hope there are at least a few flowers blooming. Feel free to send us photos or links to gorgeous flowers, to brighten up our January.
One year ago today
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Gorgeous flower! I love the way a camera can capture a single flower and keep it frozen in time so that we look, really look, at the wondrous beauty there. I went back to your original post for this and saw that you wrote, “Plants, like people, require love — and love often translates to attention, watering the plant, listening to the friend.” So true, especially during the anxious times we’re now experiencing.
Two little Johnny Jump-ups are blooming near our front porch in spite of the winter weather. Their purple and yellow faces make me smile. I’d take a photo for you but I’ve never figured out how to enter photos on the comment section. I see from your original post that Boomdeeada sent several along with her comment, so there must be a way. Maybe I missed it but is she still in contact on this blog? I always liked reading her comments.
Hi Judy. Sadly, Boomdee has been mostly away from WordPress (at least my little corner of it) since she started working full time a few years ago. She still does a ton of online work, but it’s for her employer and their website. Gone from here, but never forgotten! She is spreading her unique joy of life through other channels. Re: the posting of photos; I don’t know of any way for you to be able to do it, though some have managed to post video links (and I don’t know how they did that either). The photos you see posted here were typically emailed to me and then I would upload them. However, Boomdee knew a lot about WordPress and may have used some other method. It’s been so long, I have forgotten.
They have several varieties of winter Camelias for sale at Pikes. I think they are Camelia “Sansanqua-” or Japanese camelias, We don’t have room here in our two bedroom place.
Our DIL got us TIY- tea it yourself kit for Xmas and we have tried a couple of the mixes -and am now trying the Prince Albert tea which is i understand an afternoon tea – less stronger than the morning kind and enjoyed with scones.
Mike, those teas sound wonderful, and I like the idea of mixing your own. In fact, I do that all the time, and it was how I trained myself to have a taste for green tea. I started by mixing it with black, which is still my favorite. Any way you take it, tea is a healthy delight, and we all could use more of those!
We had camellias at one of the houses I grew up in. 😊🙏
Lucky you! I still remember fondly the one that was just outside our kitchen window at my childhood home. I’m glad you had a similar joy! Thanks for being here. It’s always a joy to hear from you.