Camellias and Dad

Photograph taken by on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Camellia japonica

Camellia japonica

My dad really loved camellias and planted quite a few in his not-too-large yard. It’s not hard to see what he liked about them — evergreen and covered with bright flowers during the winter and spring. This one is growing beside the chimney but I don’t know what variety it is. If we can find it in his notes I’ll update the caption. There used to be a tall camellia there called ‘Mrs. Lyman Clarke’ but this isn’t that. That one died in an especially cold winter many years ago. That same year the ‘Lady Clare’ died to the ground but it came up again and is a huge bush again, flowering happily every winter. I planted three seedlings of ‘Lady Clare’ in the yard of our old house. I happened to drive by yesterday (dad’s birthday, incidentally, so I was already thinking of him) and they are blooming, as well. One of them has flowers that are almost identical to ‘Lady Clare’ except they are pure white. I miss having that and was sorry to leave it behind. At least it’s still there and hopefully being appreciated. Camellias and dad — I can’t think of one without thinking of the other.

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