Crazy about Camellias

by Janet Woody, Librarian, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

I walked around the Garden today and thought I was ready to go back inside the library when I spied a glowing white mass of flowers in the distance.  “I must find out what that is”, I said to myself.  It was snuggled between a giant sweet gum tree and chamaecyparis.  As I got closer I knew it was a Camellia sasanqua just getting into full bloom.  The barely visible sign told  that it is a ‘Snow Flurry’ C. sasanqua.  What a treat to find it in the early stages of bloom, while so many other sasanquas are finishing up.  Hurry and you can see it too, it’s in the Lucy Payne Minor garden, almost across from the “Diamonds in the Rough” Patrick Dougherty stick sculpture.  The sasanqua camellias (fall bloomers) have been so beautiful this fall that I sometimes wonder what we humans did to deserve such a splendid show of flowers.  And if we are good, we will get another show from the Camellia japonicas later.  Behave everyone!