Candles in the Snow

We got our second snow dusting of the season last night, but there was no accumulation. The schools here were opened two hours late, just to be cautious. I am sure there was lots of scrambling and re-juggling of morning routines and schedules all over the city. As it turns out the roads were fine, but I am sure they were gun shy from an incident last year when schools were opened with black ice on some of the roads.


Below is a Crimson Candles Camellia (Camellia x 'Crimson Candles') that I planted about 8 years ago. I am not thrilled with the color, I usually go for the larger showier cultivars, especially the blood reds and the red/white mixes. However, this one is exceptional in that it is as florific as a Sasanqua Camellia, very cold tolerant (7a), disease resistant, long blooming, and the new foliage is red when it emerges. Some of these flowers were open the other night when we got down to the low 20's and they did not turn brown as some of my other varieties did. The other nice thing about this Camellia are its buds, which as a matter of fact look like small crimson candles.

Here it is they day before, minus the snow.