The Sunny South. Well, I can't honestly say that it's been particularly sunny here the past few weeks. But whatever it's been has been conducive to plant growth. Let me back up a bit and remind you that I was born and raised in New Jersey, within 30 miles of New York City, and I am not a native Southerner. So even though I've lived in South Carolina for over 38 years, I've never gotten used to having this kind of thing in midwinter:
That's right, roses and camellias blooming like mad in my back yard. The roses are in the foreground and the camellias in the background.
In another part of the yard is this humongous camellia bush, a tree really. This tree was buried in a forest of brambles before we cleared out the space around it this year, and made room for the tree to breath. It's been here longer than we have; I honestly don't know how old it is. It produces white camellias, a few at a time. This single bloom has been greeting me every morning from my kitchen window for the past few days. A cheery sight. That's what I like about the South.