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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Garden as though you will live forever. ~ William Kent

Today I want to welcome an international group of my talented photographer friends who I've had the pleasure of knowing for several years.  We link our blogs together, creating Sisterhood Stories.  Please follow the links and enjoy a magical journey around blog land and the world.  You will be pleased you did. After you've visited her, please pop over to see my friend Sue http://themercerie.net/blog/.

January in Southern California, is a month when you can expect to see beautiful camellia's blooming in the gardens.   I'm very fortunate to live in a 60 year old home, where someone had the forethought to plant these gorgeous flowering shrubs known as camellia japonica's.  In gardening history, they were refered to as the "Japan Rose."



Camellia shrubs grow very slowly, and thanks to the age of the camellia shrubs in my garden, they are very large and abundant.  


Southern California is home to Descanso Garden's, which has the largest collection of camellia plants outside of Japan, and likely the oldest camellia plants in the United States.  If you want to experience gorgeous blooms, and a large variety, please do visit this month. 



Descanso's Annual Camellia Festival is coming up soon. 
February 8 and 9, 2014 at Descanso Gardens
http://www.descansogardens.org/calendar/camellia-festival/


By the way, did you make New Year's Resolutions this year?  I plan on joining a new gardening club. The health benefits of gardening are undeniable.  My friends from my original gardening club, called "The Gardeneer's" lived extremely long and productive lives. Many of them have gone on to garden in the great beyond, but most of them were in their late 90's and even 100+.  


Thank you for stopping by, and please remember to visit the links for Sisterhood Stories, first stopping by to Sue http://themercerie.net/blog/.

Happy New Year!





13 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are stunning Abby, I love Camelias so much. Unfortunately we won't be getting any here in the UK for a few months yet. I completely agree with your sentiment of gardening for the future. Since we had our first garden my husband and I have always planted at least one tree. I often wonder what they are like now. The oldest one will be 25 years old! By the same token, we are currently surrounded by gorgeous trees planted years ago for us to enjoy now. Good luck with your gardening!

Sara Hazeldine said...

Just beautiful - especially cheering at this dreary time of year here in the UK!

ImagesByCW | OceanDreamIllustration said...

Those are some gorgeous shots, Abby. So soft and dreamy - very, very nice!

Unknown said...

Abby I so love your photographs, they never fail to make me feel wonderful. x

Isabelle Lafrance said...

Love these photos, Abby! Especially the ones with the statue, they have a poetic quality to them... A gardening club, that sounds cool! I wish we had camellias up here, I'm mostly worried for my little magnolia I planted last summer, with this crazy winter, I hope I'll get to see some blooms this spring.

Unknown said...

Oh these are so beautiful - I adore camellias but don't seem to be able to grow them in my garden. In my old house my neighbour had the most stunning camellia and I use to nip over the fence and steal the occasional bloom! (eeek - that's supposed to be a secret!!)

Unknown said...

your images are works of art!! Happy new year to you!

Unknown said...

Your floral images are beautiful! I LOVE flowers XX !

Kay Maguire Photography said...

Beautiful photos Abby. I love these gorgeous flowers and I especially like seeing them during our Winter when everywhere is so bleak.

jilbab renni said...

wow, amazing. I think it's a great hobby, gardening and photography :)

regards
busana muslim

flowerify said...

flowering and gardening is not just a good habbit but also a gud healthier activity

Bahan Takoyaki said...

Oh my God... its very pretty blog. Full of flowers.

food recipe said...

I'm thinking maybe your heart is very soft because of special interest in flowers