January Camellias Duke Gardens

Thanks to all that kindly commented on the passing of Grumpy the cat, Meg and I were lifted greatly by your wonderful support. Valentine is trying out for coffee kitty, she is a leg kitty, only when you have been very still. Thinking about fostering another cat from Independent Animal Rescue in Durham for now.

On January 20th I walked around Duke Gardens to see if any camellias were blooming. I have photographed many of the camellias in Duke Gardens for the past 3 years. It takes good timing to see some of the camellias in bloom. Below are 15-17 of the flowers I can't not recall shooting before, there are 22 different camellias photos in all. I did not shoot photo some of the other camellias in bloom like Yule Tide, Mr Sargent, October Affair, Kanjiro and few few others I can't recall or had no names on them. My guess is 35-40 different camellias were in bloom.

 Camellia japonica 'Pride of Descanso'

A huge white bloom!

Camellia japonica 'Lemon Glow' 

This is considered a yellow camellia, the buds were yellowish, I barely found much yellow in it. Might be yellower when first opened.

Camellia japonica 'Tama Vino'

Loved this camellia, the 3+ inch blooms have whitish edges that really grabbed me. The plant grows short and wide, the gardens had two of them maybe three foot tall. Thinking of perhaps adding this one to our garden, Camellia Forest has in on their online catalog.

Camellia japonica 'San Dimas'

I think this camellia might have been redder than shown here, did have a lovely display of medium sized flowers.

 Camellia japonica 'isaribi'

 Camellia japonica 'Lester M Allen'

 Camellia japonica 'Moonlight Bay'

 

Camellia japonica 'Precious Morning'

 

 Camellia japonica 'Mister Sam'

Camellia vernalis 'Dawn'

Camellia japonica 'Mathoyiana Supreme'

Camellia japonica 'Pink Icicle'

Camellia hybrid 'Koto no Kaori'

Camellia sasanqua hybrid 'Yume'

This 2 inch white flower blushed in pink made a beautiful display.

Camellia japonica 'R. L. Wheeler'

This large red camellia might have been featured before on the site, it is a knock out. Today I purchased this camellia at Southern States and will be planting it near Grumpy's grave in the garden.

Camellia japonica 'Lady Clare'

We have this one in our garden, just planted last year, no blooms yet. One of my favorites, these huge blooms cover the bush. Buy it if you love big showy camellias.

Camellia japonica 'Herme'

Camellia sasanqua 'Sekiyo'

 Camellia japonica 'Pink Perfection'

This camellia and the one below I really like. But they are not bee friendly, nothing bees can find pollen or nectar on, so we won't have them in our garden.

 

Camellia japonica 'Purity'

 Above and below is Camellia hybrid 'Yoi Machi' I featured this a few years back see here.
These flowers were much pinker than the photo in the link above.

Camellia japonica 'Adeyaka'

Camellia japonica  'Cinnamon Cindy'
Interesting camellia, thought I could smell cinnamon near the buds.

I took a lot of photos at Duke Gardens. Plan on posting photos of some of the new architectural structures in the garden and a special post on just park benches from the 55 acre gardens, there are a lot of them!

This stone gazebo is new from last year it faces what used to be the rose garden, now a huge fountain. They is a brand new gazebo made of curved timbers and secured with wooden pegs that is unlike any gazebo I have ever seen, you'll have to stay tuned to see it in a future post.

The pond has Mallard ducks on it this morning, first time in years that we had had ducks.

Yesterday I managed to plant two kinds of beets, English Breakfast radishes and salad mix in one of the cold frames. Our salad greens are about finished in the cold frames.

Sad day yesterday...

 

 Here is the very first photo I took with my new camera on Christmas day.

Yesterday day morning about 6am Meg found Grumpy on the dog's bed with his back legs paralyzed. I heard him in the middle of the night screaming loudly, but ignored it as he does this often. By 7am he was at the vets office. His legs were 93 degrees and it did not look very good for him, likely a blood clot was the cause.  Given he had FIV (feline aids) his chances were very slim for recovery. By 2pm Meg and I were with him when we put him to sleep. He purred loudly because we were there, he was in great pain yet so glad we were there to comfort him. It was really sad, he was the best kitty I/We ever had.

We buried him in the back yard while a huge flock of Robins came in and comforted us from the forest canopy. While we prepared his grave I went inside and asked to dogs who were inside the house if they wanted to come to Grumpy's funeral. Here is the unbelievable part. Both dogs went ahead of me towards the pet door. Dot goes out the pet door all the time, Daisy never goes out she comes in only. Both dogs nearly got stuck in the pet door at the same time as they went out the pet door.

Last night Dot stood in the laundry room looking very depressed as she always helped Grumpy finish his cat food. Daisy misses Grumpy too, she has been very affectionate. Valentine our other cat seems distant, she is very independent. Meg and I usually have coffee in bed after feeding the cats, Grumpy always joined us by laying on one of us.

Later in the day we went for a walk. We encountered the first aromas of spring from the flowers of two different shrubs in Hillsborough, intoxicating. The pansies above were found beside the Ayrmount House, Grumpy would have enjoyed laying in them.

Grumpy could be best described by this. He was one of those cats who would sit on your lap, you'd move him off your lap three times before he'd realize you did not want him on your lap. He sat on my knee many times as I typed these posts, he will be missed greatly.