We do not just have a butterfly garden. There are several areas of the yard where we are switching from grass to plant beds. Part of the reason is its darn hard to grow grass in Florida. And it usually involves dumping a lot of chemicals down to keep it alive.
So when we decided that a highly shaded narrow side yard needed some pizazz the first plant that came to mind was camellia. And for good reason the blooms can take your breath away.
This Ella Ward Parsons is a japonica type of camellia. I love how the blooms are in rows one over the other, stacked deep. And see the touches of darker pink on the edges. LOVE. Its hard to find a winter bloomer and frankly a reason to get excited to go in the garden (since weeding isn’t fun for most of us) unless you have some of these amazing plants growing. Not all japonica type camellias have this kind of petal structure. Take a look at what I mean.
Christmas Beauty also is considered a japonica. This has more of a ruffle petal structure. And in this case you really see the stamens. Some call this cupped. I love the color.
Then there’s a newer type of japonica camellia, like this Early Autumn.
It reminds me a little more of a rose, with layers of petals. And it almost looks like there’s a beak in the center.
Some of our camellias are taking quite awhile to settle and bloom. We’ve had several take two years or more before they decided to bloom. As they get settled and start showing off we’ll show you.
