Trip to Camellia Forest Nursery

Today I drove over to Chapel Hill to see what camellias Camellia Forest had. I knew they had Lady Clare and it has been big on my list. They offered about 10 different camellias on sale but I decided on others instead. It was a nice day and even a few butterflies were flying. Remarkably I saw a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on camellias. Once I got home I checked and the late date for NC on Eastern Tiger Swallowtails is November 23 in Orange County (same county), so it was 3 days before the late date not a new record. Also seen was a Red Admiral on the hummingbird feeder at the nursery.

Here are my picks today ones that are going in our garden. Above and below is Camellia sasanqua Pink Butterfly it was introduced by Camellia Forest, so it is a local cultivar in fact! This plant was in a 3 gallon pot and clearly 4 foot tall covered in buds and 4 inch blooms. I had another option instead of this one Moon Festival which has slightly larger blooms but they are crinkled, it was huge in a 5 gallon pot out of my price range.

Here is a close look at the Camellia japonica 'Lady Clare' I bought. It is about 2 foot tall and has 6-7 buds on it. FYI that bud is big yet half the size it'll be before the flower opens. Lady Clare has a huge deep pink bloom.

Camellia Forest also grows primroses and hybridizes them. I bought this whitish one below

and a blue one that is not blooming yet. These are proved hardy in our area.

Below is the Red Admiral found on the hummingbird feeder. In our area if you leave out your hummingbird feeder you might get an overwintering hummingbird. Usually in the summer we have only one hummer the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but in the winter we(not me) have had 7-8 different western hummers visit our feeders.

Below are some of the other camellias that caught my eye today.

A species camellia puniceflora with 1 1/2 inch white with pink edges. Might have to get this one in our garden.

Here is Camellia 'Mieko Tanaka' Loved the way these 2 inch blooms opened up so far.

Below is Camellia 'Yobuko Dori' these blooms are just under 3 inches I believe.

Below is Camellia sasanqua 'Pink Serenade' beautiful 4 inch or so blooms!

From our garden Crocus speciosus today. We should have 4 blooms in the morning. Sherry this is not the saffron crocus, I planted the saffron crocus in our garden about a month before these were planted, one visitor remarked they bloom bi annually, we just have leaves coming up, just like after  the blooms of spring crocus.