Camellias: A Bright Spot in Winter

My camellia tree in all of its winter glory (photo by author)

by Sharol Nelson-Embry
Just when the holiday excitement is over and the gloom, rain, and short days of January begin to wear on me, my camellias come through, blooming with exuberant enthusiasm. Their branches, heavy-laden with seemingly endless blossoms, attract throngs of honeybees on warm days and small songbirds every morning. The trees are like a small, bustling city with all of the activity. Yellow-rumped warblers, flocks of bouncing bushtits, and Anna’s hummingbirds work among the flowers and branches for insects, nectar, and pollen. One tree, in a sunnier location, bursts forth in late December with red petals unfurling to reveal a center of sunny yellow stamens. The other, a pink variety, is in a shadier spot and saves its blooms for a little later. They keep me going well into March.

A honey bee visits -- notice its yellow "pollen baskets" where the bee collects pollen to take back to the hive on her back legs. (photo by author)

Where did these magnificent and prolific small trees originate? Chinese hillsides were where they made their first known appearance, growing as understory trees and shrubs with their glossy green leaves and bright flowers. They’ve been cultivated there for over 1,500 years. Ancient Buddhist temples are decorated with their flowers and heritage camellia trees are protected in temple sites. One species of camellia, Camellia sinesis, are grown for their leaves rather than flowers. They’re harvested and dried to make tea. The name for Camellia reticulate in the Yunnan Province in China is Cha-hua. A delicate cooking oil is derived from the seeds and is still used today in Chinese cooking and for some machinery. They’ve been spread throughout Asia and Europe in the 1700s. They were brought to America in the 1800s. Over 500 cultivars and hybrids of camellia exist today, bred for their flowers with colors varying from plum to vivid red and pink to white. It’s the state flower of Alabama.

I tried to find out some of the lore and any legends associated with such a long cultivated plant. It’s clearly associated with Buddhism in China and also with a religion that stretches even further back to a polytheistic, animistic religion called Yishi, which one research paper* confirms has done a lot to protect the ancient specimens of camellia. The research paper relates that, “the ‘Prayer of the Dragon’ recited by Bimo, the priest of Yi people, says ‘God from the heaven dispersed three handfuls of seeds in the world, from which camellias grew and flowered all over the hillsides, thus we used the camellia to worship the god and our ancestors. ’”

A bee dives deep into the flower in search of nectar. (photo by author)

So here in my winter yard, these bright flowers carry me out of the gloom, to China and back thousands of years to another people that appreciated the beauty of this small tree. I think I’ll brew a cup of green tea, put on this Youtube song, Shan Cha-hua (about camellias), and gaze out at this beauty that graces and brightens my winter days. May you find some bright spots to your winter days, too!

For more information about camellias check out these links:

*History of Camellia trees in Yunnan Province (research report): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283209260_Impact_of_traditional_culture_on_Camellia_reticulata_in_Yunnan_China

A blogger/gardener’s visit to Yunnan Province and ancient Camellias: https://gardentravelhub.com/remarkable-genus-camellia/