December Pics From a Chilly North Carolina Garden

Well, to begin, it is early winter here and most of my garden is looking pretty sad.
The Hedychium stalks are bowed and their foliage is looking very burnt after several light frosts and last night's proper freeze - the Brugmansias are even worse! *ugh* Their foliage (and, *sigh* the many flower buds which were still forming) looks as if I had poured boiling water over them.

From now 'til spring comes, the Camellias will be all that I have to help keep my spirits lifted.

The sasanqua Camellias began blooming several weeks ago:

A few of the japonicas are showing some early color- they will continue to open a few blossoms at a time (whenever the weather stays temperate for a few days) - but they won't bloom properly until late Feb - Mar.

This one is 'Professor Sargent' (C.japonica):



Hope that you enjoy seeing them.

Hi Canna, welcome to the forum....that second photo is a joy to behold...it is picture perfect.

Beautiful photo's, Ellie. If you consider your garden to be a bit sad right now, I'd like to see it when it's not. It looks so lush and well established. And while all these are lovely, I adore that white camelia and the last two.

Proffessor sargent is to die for. I cannot grow Camelia in the tropics so I love to see them on the forum. I can't wait to see you garden when you think its at its best. I think its wonderful right now.

Thanks to each of you for the very nice compliments,
I really appreciate them - and also your warm welcome, Karingal, I'm very happy to meet you, too.

I do feel very fortunate to have some of these more established Camellias on the property, thanks to a previous owner.
Our little house was built sometime around 1960, and certainly several of them date to that time.
I continue adding more, since I think they are lovely in all seasons. I love the muscular-looking wood and that glossy foliage nearly as much as the flowers.

As for the over-all look of my garden - I'm afraid that it may shock you. I am a graduate of the Helter Skelter School of Gardening and my place is a wild tangle of plants and "junque".
I just sort of drag home plants that I can't resist, and only then do I give any thought to where they might be made to fit in.

I meant to ask, what are the flowers growing beneath the Camellia (2nd pic), thanks?....they blend beautifully in that overall scene.

Those are some re-blooming Azaleas that are sold under the name "Encore" here.
They bloom most heavily in the spring, and then once again with this secondary flush in late autumn/early winter.

There is a jumble under there, with various pinks and whites.

Thanks Canna...all very pretty.

I was never into azaleas but those are great. I think I've met a kindred soul. I'm into propogating plants from seeds and my garden beds just get crammed full of all sorts of things. I buy roses without a thought to where they can be planted, but in Summer that's fine because they stay potted and in afternoon shade till the next rose planting season. I have a long list of plants, roses and even a tree that has to find its permanent home.

Hi Canna, nice to meet you !
Your garden looks wonderful, full of colour and very healthy. I love your camellias, they're huge! I've got a couple here but they don't like our soil much it's too alkaline. Likewise with azaleas, they do OK in pots but don't grow very large.
Thankyou for sharing your garden

Thanks again, you are all so kind.

Most pleased to meet you too, Val.
We are on opposite sides of the coin it seems, as I have the opposite conditions.
What passes for soil here (nearly pure sand, actually) is very acid, and so while it is great for these plants, but of course, that comes with it's own problems, too. *lol*
I must grow a great many plants in containers, as well.


I always felt the same about Azaleas, Betty, and never grew them before moving to this property.
And even after moving here, I resisted ... ... for a while.
But I finally gave in when it became apparent why they are so popular in local landscapes.
In addition to being sell-suited to our acidic "soil", they also recover well from the salty spray that accompanies the hurricanes that blow through here from time to time.
If I remember correctly, I think that I replaced most of my shrubbery two (or possibly 3) times following storms - while my neighbors simply pruned back their Azaleas and waited for them to grow back even fuller than before.
Eventually, I gave in.

Containers are good. I hardly had a thing in pots and thought of them as just cluttering up my yard but that has all changed now. With good quality potting mix you can grow almost anything. Your azaleas are a bit special. The others might know if they are available here but I have never seen that type before. Very nice.

Do you take many photo's locally, Ellie? I love seeing what it's like where people live, particularly in the States. It is so different to here. I'm on a few acres surrounded by farms and forest, sheep and kangaroos, fields of barley, oats and wheat. Anywhere that looks civilized interests me. LOL.

I'm LOL too
Where you live sounds wonderful and quite fascinating to me, Betty.
True what they say, 'eh? The grass is always greener ....
We humans are funny creatures, aren't we?

I'd be very happy to share some peeks into the small coastal community where I live ...
I was going to post a link to a slideshow that I made earlier this year - but I've just made a really shocking discovery! All of the slideshows which I had made and stored in an album at photobucket have vanished!
I haven't noticed any other problems with my account ... but now I'm wondering what else may be missing. *sigh*

Oh well, it seems that I have a bit of work ahead of me.

I was city born and bred, Ellie, and after 35 years of country life I still miss the city. I also miss the beach. My sister lives near the beach and never goes there. So unfair.
That's bad luck about your slideshows. They altered photobucket recently, didn't they? I don't use it very often , and don't know if you can show slideshows on this forum actually.

Talk to you later, I have one last dog to groom and doing that would be cooler than sitting in this office. LOL.

Think you must be right about P'bucket ...
Geesh! I really am so clueless at times.
I know that keeping a free account comes with risks, they could just decide to delete everything without a word of warning, I suppose.

I did throw together a few pictures into a quick slideshow,
it's posted in a thread in the Photo Gallery forum.
(and yep, the slideshow program at PB is totally different ).

I know what you mean about someone living by the beach and not going very often ... I have to admit that I am guilty of letting months get by without walking the couple of blocks from my door to the shore.

I know what you mean about someone living by the beach and not going very often ... I have to admit that I am guilty of letting months get by without walking the couple of blocks from my door to the shore.

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I am also guilty of this
Yet when I do go there I'm always struck by the beauty and vow not to leave it so long till next time.