Camellias: the wondrous winter flower in Daydreaming on the Porch

I have a beautiful little book published in 1870 entitled “Flowers: Their Language and Poetry.” I can’s remember where I bought it. I think it was the used books place I used to frequent a lot. It’s a little treasure of a book, filled with descriptions, history and poetry selections about flowers. There is one color illustration of a bouquet of flowers at the beginning of the book, separated from the next page by one of those delicate tissue-like pieces of paper common in books printed a century or so ago. The unknown author writes of the Camellia japonica, which will be blooming gloriously everywhere here starting about now:

“Everybody will willingly acknowledge the Camellia, or Rose of Japan, to be one of the most lovely floral beauties ever introduced into this country…This beautiful blossom, expressing ‘thou art my heart’s sovereign,’ was first introduced into Europe in 1639 and derives it’s name from a Jesuit monk, Joseph Kamel, or as it is generally Latinized into, Camellus….”

And this from the book, ‘These lovely flowers, as Mrs. Sigourney says, ‘put forth such blaze of beauty/as translates to dullest hearts their dialect of love.’

Needless to say, I have been photographing camellias at Magnolia gardens and Charles Towne Landing lately, as they have simply covered the ancient bushes at these gardens. We all love flowers and have our favorites. Who can deny the exquisite beauty of irises and roses? The cheerful yellow radiance of daffodils in Spring? The gorgeous reds, pinks and whites of azaleas which bloom in profusion here in March and April. The azalea is my favorite because of my long association with them going back to my early youth. However, one can’t help but be simply in awe of the camellia and it’s varieties. Here the Sasanqua camellia blooms earliest and most abundantly. They will be ending their run soon, to be replaced by the Japonica and other varieties.

What’s so amazing and astounding about these flowers is that they only bloom in Fall and winter. In fact, their peak bloom time is the middle of winter. They can deal with really cold temperatures below freezing in the South, and they thrive in the Charleston area. Magnolia Gardens has many historic varieties of the plant.

Here are some recent photos of this beautiful flower taken on Dec. 3: