Here’s a darling fall & winter flower that caught our Christmas guest’s attention as they came to the door.

Camellia ‘Apple Blossom’ is just beginning to bloom at Haloween.  It continues through November and December if the weather is right.

I treasure every new bloom.  But the shrub doesn’t garner our guests’ compliments until the winter solstice has passed.

When protected from the brunt of the wind, this camellia happily goes about its business.  Even our resident blacktail deer seem to let it be.  🙂

My morning coffee is that much more of a treat when I’m also watching the overwintering Anna’s hummingbirds investigating the Camellia blossoms.

When each flower opens, its pink petals fade to white.
Plain.
Hummingbirds typically look for more dramatic blooms.
I reckon it’s the heavy yellow pollen that is drawing them near.

In mid-January, the Pacific Northwest suffered a snowstorm.  Now that’s drama!

The delicate buds & blooms froze – then turned brown & mushy.
So sad.
If it had stayed sunny with only light rain, the flowers would have lasted.  Alas, that’s just not often our January weather.

Fortunately for me, this camellia is listed as zone 5 – – and we don’t get that kind of cold in Victoria.  Our shrub should survive to bloom another day…
maybe not this winter…
but perhaps next fall.    🙂

-30-

PS.  Here are some more pink fall friends:

• 

  Pink as a Fall Color? – Colchicum

• 5 More Shades of Pink
• Horray for Naked Ladies – Nerine
• Back From the Dead – Amaryllis belladonna
• November Pink: Hesperantha