March 23, 2010

Petals

Scattered

Visiting a Southern City in March meant that I saw flowers blooming everywhere: pots of flowers on street corners, flowers blooming in historical gardents near old mansions, and whole hillsides of yellow daffodils. One path that I walked each day at the retreat center followed stone steps up past bushes filled with flowers; some had even passed their prime and fallen already. It seemed extravagant, somehow, after a winter of white and grey, to see pink and red scattered across the ground.

10 comments:

holly said...

I love this. It reminds me of a poem I wrote in college. I love the beauty that is only found in age.

Cathy said...

Those are camellias - they bloom from November to around late March. The back of our church has a huge variety from white to deep red.

jo(e) said...

Thanks for identifying the flowers! I didn't know what they were. That's the disadvantage of being somewhere else -- I don't know the plants or the flowers.

Unknown said...

Great eye. You are good at so many creative things!

Rhonda said...

We have camellias in our yard here in Augusta, and the pink one--like the ones in the photo--is outside my bedroom window. It is extravagant to see them full of flowers, petals carpeting the ground, in the dead of winter.

It almost makes up for the palmetto bugs, but not quite.

Unknown said...

That pink is so potent.

Anonymous said...

Yep, camellias. The downside is that they are generally not fragrant, and they turn brown. But I think their brightness makes them worth it.

Cathy said...

No they are not fragrant, and if a freeze comes along and they are in bloom, they turn brown. Pink perfection is one of my very favorites.
As soon as I find my battery charger to my camera battery, I will try and capture some pictures of the camellias at the church. I know some are still blooming.

sherry said...

I live in a town called "Camellia City" way down yonder a little north of New Orleans.

concretegodmother said...

my neighbor's camellia trees blessedly bloom into our backyard, so we get to enjoy full view and, yes, camellia blossom litter. they fall into our lemon tree, so for a while, our lemon tree boasts both yellow and pink "fruit."