Sasanqua Season

I'm a big fan of the fall-blooming Sasanqua camellias. I have a pink one, strategically planted so that I can see it from the kitchen table when I'm having my morning coffee. (The picture at the right was literally taken from the kitchen table.) I chose its location partly to maximize viewing its bloom and partly to provide a screen from my neighbor's house. Sasanquas often have an open, lanky growth habit (compared with the Japonica type of camellia), as this one does. If you look closely at the picture, you'll see thin new growth at the very top, but next year it will fill in and look less scraggly. I've been pleased that the height is going to be sufficient to provide the screening I desired. Some camellias max out in growth at 8-10 feet but this one appears to be on its way to getting much larger. It has my permission to get as tall as it wants. There is room in this spot for it to keep growing and, in this case, bigger is better.

Here is a closeup of the bloom (not taken from the kitchen window). Many people prefer the fall-blooming camellias because their blooms are more likely to survive long enough to be enjoyed. Camellia blooms do not like cold weather and a freeze can turn them to mush. The fall-bloomers usually have time to open their buds and put on their show before really cold weather arrives in our area. That's not a guarantee, but it offers an increased chance you'll get to enjoy the bloom. From my own experience I can tell you how sad it is when our usual spring cold snap nips those fat buds of the Japonicas.

Having said that, you'd think I'd never again buy a Japonica camellia--wrong! Gardeners often do things that defy logic. I don't have a white camellia and I really want one. I did some research on the type to buy and where to locate it to give me the best chance of enjoying its spring blooms. So, after thorough research, last week I made the trip to Dabney's Nursery (they have a great selection of camellias) to find Camellia japonica 'Seafoam'. I planted it on a slight slope in a spot that has dappled light from large trees and is sheltered from the wind by a nearby fence. If it does well in this spot, I'll be ecstatic. One of the factors I considered in choosing its location was that I can see it from my favorite reading chair in the living room.

Finally, I want to tell you about a grab-bag camellia purchase I made. I call it grab-bag because it reminded me of when I was a teenager and you could buy a bag of ten records (you do remember records, don't you?) for a dollar, but you didn't know which records you were getting. In this case, the grab-bag was the end-of-season 75% off shrubs clearance sale at Lowes. They had a table of unnamed camellias that were not yet in bloom and tagged simply Camellia sasanqua. The picture on the plant tag showed several colors. The plants had buds but none were opened. All of them appeared to be pink. Since I already had a pink one, I was hoping the bloom would be different but, regardless of the color, it was fun to pay a few dollars for a healthy-looking plant and wait for the surprise. The buds have begun to open and here's what I got. I'm  thrilled! This purchase makes up for all those terrible records I bought as a teenager! I think I'll call it Camellia sasanqua 'Grab Bag'.

Okra Plants and Open Doors

I like to recall waking up under a Clemson Spineless Okra plant about 8 years ago as a Master Gardener intern. An unusually cool August morning, a little mist hung over the garden. And while I had driven the 30 minutes from home to Davies Manor it was the mindless kind of drive at the crack of dawn that does not really wake you up all the way. So I found myself on hands and knees, spreading straw under a 'grove' of okra plants and waking to the beauty of plants and nature and gardening and even life itself.

I also waked to the realization that the handful of tots, whom I had birthed, were almost fully capable adults. Over the last 25 years, I had worked myself out of that happy job; and there in that shady nook of the world the possibilities were without limit. Privileged to have been accepted into the Master Gardener program, I felt the blessing of that morning's work, little knowing the web of opportunity that would follow.

Attending lectures at the lovely Dixon Gallery and Gardens, and answering the horticulture hotline at the Extension Office, taking 'orders' from seasoned gardeners to prepare a garden for Through Our Garden Gates and teaching children at the Memphis Botanic Garden Harvest Festival about the variety of pumpkins, driving up to Jackson, Tennessee to the Summer Celebration and potting up Ajuga plants for sale at Spring Fling: are just a few of the volunteer and educational opportunities which opened up to me.

The diversity of gardens and gardeners I have met is wider then I could have imagined. Their common threads of helpfulness, encouragement and acceptance have enriched my own garden but most importantly, my life; it is my hope that their goodness has rubbed off even in some small way on me and that I have been of  help to my fellow gardeners. 

Little did I know, all those years ago, tending okra that morning would open the doors to so much opportunity and change my life forever and for the better.