Clemson Camillas and Carnivorous #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to the Campus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

Clemson University, besides being one of the top public universities in the United States, is the home of the South Carolina botanical garden.  Let's take a short walk through it.

Part of the garden is devoted to native plants, a number of which are carnivorous.  We were only able to view one of them - the others may have been dormant.

I think this is a purple pitcher plant.

I must admit that part of the reason of my visit was to see the camilla garden.  Camillas are not hardy where I live in New York State so I only get to see them down south.

In the third week of February in a mild winter, the camilla season was drawing to an end (they are winter bloomers), but I still got to see some nice specimens.

The white ones weren't in the best place to photograph but I did get this picture.

Overseeing this (you can't see it too well) was a green lizard. I believe this is a green anole.

Although "ice cream" doesn't begin with C, I couldn't leave the Clemson campus without sampling the ice cream made on campus.  It was delicious.

We didn't have much time to explore the campus itself, which is a regret (parking can be scarce, like on so many College campuses), but I will be back in several days for my "F" post.

"C" day of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:  Exploring South Carolina and the Eastern United States.

Talking About Beauty is Obligatory

After the events of yesterday at our Nation's capital, I stayed up late to see some of the debate in the Senate.  I was inspired by the speech given by Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska (no worries, this isn't a political post, but I just wanted to show the context of this quote.)

Senator Sasse said, in part, "It turns out that when something [the events of yesterday] is ugly talking about beauty isn’t just permissible, talking about beauty is obligatory at a time like that"

So. 

We take a deep, cleansing breath.  We think of a peaceful place - let's say, Florida, just about two years ago today.

Think of the ocean and its sound.

We look at a butterfly, a work of Nature.

Lighting up a palm tree, St. John's Pass.

Humankind's art at its best (John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Sarasota).

One last look at the beauty of our country.  It's still out there, if we look.

Exhale.

Summer Camilla #ThursdayTreeLove

Our local Stewardia pesudocamellia, or Stewardia, or summer camellia, is in bloom at our local botanical garden in Binghamton, New York.

This is not a common tree where I live.

Its mottled bark is hard to see in this picture, where I tried to capture most of the tree.  It reminds me a little of the bark of crepe myrtle, a beautiful summer blooming shrub that thrives in the southeast United States.

The crepe myrtle is one of two bushes I wish I could grow in our zone 5b climate. It does grow downstate in the New York City area, although those bushes are much smaller than its southern relatives.

The other bush I wish I could grow is the camilla.   This tree above is actually a relative of the camilla so beloved of people in the South of the United States. Unlike this summer camilla tree, the camilla blooms in the winter and early spring.

Before its last winter

Several years ago, I tried to grow a camilla called April Rose, a variety that was claimed might be hardy enough for my yard.  I periodically reported on how it was doing, but not recently.  And here's why:

It was not to be, this particular impossible dream.  I bought her several years ago.  By this spring, April Rose only had one leaf left.  In the past week, we have reluctantly accepted that our impossible dream is dead.  Yet, maybe we can still dream impossible dreams.  Maybe, one day, we will try again.

In the meantime, the summer camilla tree above survives, several miles away.

Sometimes, you can step outside of your comfort zone.  But trees may not be able to do the same.

Join Parul and other tree lovers each second and fourth Thursday of the month for #ThursdayTreeLove.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day December 2018

Welcome (I think) to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in my zone 5b garden near Binghamton, New York.


December has been a strange month, as have so many recent months.  On Black Friday (November 23) it got down to four above zero.  We've had snow, enough to totally jam everything up.

Snow is usual for us in November and December, but now, we have temperatures in the low 40's and everything has melted.

Because of personal events in the last month, I haven't been able to care for my plants as I normally would, and today's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day will be sparse.

My Thanksgiving Cactus, though, have exploded into bloom.

Another plant.

I did buy an African Violet to cheer me up.  Now, if I can only remember to water it.  I've already lost several houseplants in the past couple of months.

I almost forgot.   My amaryllis plant is blooming.  Well, almost.

Outside?  After it's gotten down to four above zero (-15.5 C) already this fall?  Well, actually, now that the snow has melted, this has been revealed - buds on my early blooming Lenten Rose.  Enough times it is caught by a January cold wave, but maybe not this year.

And, wonder of wonders, my April Rose camilla plant (yes, a camilla in upstate New York!) is hanging on for another year, but there is no sign that it will ever bloom again.

Want more?  Head on over to Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day every 15th of the month. 

Merry Christmas (almost) to all my readers who celebrate.  And Happy Holidays to all.

See you next month!

Spring Returns

Here, in the Binghamton area of the Southern Tier of upstate New York, we have spring at last.

Sort of.

One of my two Lenten roses

As the snow melts, the backyard is revealed.   These pictures were taken on the first full day of spring.

Daffodils (these are over 30 years old) come up.

What may be the only camilla in upstate New York, my poor April Rose, which doesn't look happy.  I wonder if it is going to make it after trying for three years.

It snowed a little bit this morning, and the forecast is for more snow showers through the day. Soon, it should  be above freezing.

At least we aren't getting what they got yesterday in Iowa.

Still, winter is slow releasing its grip.  But, release it will, and I'll be there to record it.

Spring Things - Impossible Dream Update

She dreamed the impossible dream.
She fought the impossible fight.
I felt such unbearable sorrow
But then....

In the spring of 2015, my spouse and I decided to try the impossible - to grow a camilla in upstate New York.  Camillas are southern plants which bloom with beautiful rose like blooms.  And they are not hardy in our zone 5b back yard.

But since when did the impossible stop a gardener?

We went to Chapel Hill in North Carolina, to a nursery we had found out about on the Internet.  They specialize in camillas, and are trying to grow "hardy" camillas.  I have seen camillas in New York City but we are not in the same climate zone.  Even the most hardy camilla in Chapel Hill is only rated to zone 6a.

But we couldn't resist and bought an April Rose plant.

In 2015, the buds were already opening, and it bloomed.

Last year, it had buds, but something ate most of the buds.  And then, no new buds grew for the 2017 blooming season. It was a fail.   Or so we thought.  I didn't stop dreaming.

Apparently, neither did April Rose.

Because, on May 7, we saw this. 

And we immediately erected a fence so the lone bloom wouldn't be eaten..

I took these pictures after a hailstorm, on May 14.

This picture is from yesterday, as April Rose blooms with her one bloom.

April Rose has done the impossible again.

Even plants, it would seem, can dream.

Still Dreaming the Impossible Dream

Every gardener has his or her impossible dream.  Some of us try to grow a plant that the experts say just can't be grown, just to see if it could be done.

Years ago, when my spouse was in the military, we were stationed in Wichita, Kansas.   There, we met a fellow airman, Jim.  Jim had grown up in West Virginia.  He missed two things terribly:  bluegrass and azaleas.  Neither grow well in Wichita, a hot, windy climate.

Jim tried.  And he failed.  But he tried.

For me, in zone 5b upstate New York near Binghamton, the impossible dream is the camilla, a beautiful flower that is not supposed to grow here.  The climate isn't right.  It gets too cold.  I thought I saw one once in Brooklyn, although it was past the blooming season.   But Brooklyn is in hardiness zone 6b.  I've never seen one here in the Binghamton area.

So, of course, spouse and I decided we had to try.

In April of 2015, my spouse and I traveled to a camilla nursery in North Carolina where they specialize in cold hardy camillas.  We bought one, called April Rose.

After the buds already formed opened and bloomed, new buds grew.

In 2016, despite animals (we suspect squirrels), our camilla bloomed, for the first time, on upstate New York flower buds.

But, after that, buds never grew in the summer of 2016.  I suspect the plant isn't getting enough sun in our back yard, where we had to put it so it would have a chance to survive the winter.

This is what our April Rose looked like on February 18.  No buds.

It will not bloom this April.  Maybe, buds will grow or next year.

You know what?  I'm still dreaming that impossible dream, that April Rose will bloom again for me one day.

The Impossible Survivor

She doesn't look like much.

May 23

But if you only knew her story, you would know better.  She's a survivor.

Yes, this plant is a "she". Not a botanical "she". Just a she.

 Her name is April Rose, and she is a camilla.

Camillas are plants popular in the Southern United States extending to areas such as Long Island, in New York State.  They are grown in Great Britain, and other parts of the world where it doesn't get much below zero (Celsius, that is) because they can't tolerate too much cold.

I love camillas because they bloom in the winter.  Well, many of them do.  Their flowers are beautiful.  In upstate New York, nothing blooms in the winter, except maybe ice and snow crystals

Never met a camilla? If you drink tea (not herbal tea) you are familiar with one type of camilla, one grown for its leaves.

Living in zone 5b upstate New York, near Binghamton, I despaired of ever being able to have a camilla in my backyard.   Then, last year, we found a nursery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina that specializes in what they call hardy camillas.  They are hardy - for camillas.

Hardy as in being able to survive a winter in Chapel Hill where it went down to -8 (-22C) last year.
So, in 2015, we bought our April Rose and brought it home.  We planted it in a sheltered area in our backyard.  And, lo and behold, we had one of the mildest Decembers and early Januaries on record.
Until, suddenly, it went down to -10 F.  Would the flower buds, already formed, survive?

They did.  The plant, and the buds, survived the rest of the winter.

The buds started to open in April.  But one day, we came home, and the buds were scattered all over the ground.  Heartbroken, we protected the plant, and the few buds it had left, with a fence.

April 23

 No, I didn't blog about that.  I still don't know what animal did that to April Rose.

In the past few days, the remaining buds started to open.  The flowers are smaller than they should be, and it is possible we needed to fertilize the plant (we did so last week).

But my April Rose has done the impossible.

She survived.

She is blooming.

In upstate New York.

She has done the impossible.