Sunny with showers…Pretty Pink Camelia

Scattered showers…

Rain with occasional sunbreaks…

Heavy rain…

For natives of the northwest, these somewhat humorous adjectives paint significantly different pictures. They may seem similar in that they uniformly describe what we fondly refer to as “liquid sunshine” but they awaken a variety of emotions based upon what can be expected for the day.

Years ago my dad nurtured several immense white camellia bushes that burst forth into an explosion of velvety blooms in early spring. If the rain arrived simultaneously with the appearance of the delicate petals, the blossoms became an unsightly shade of brown and the ground was littered with the spent blooms. Yet, for all the discolored white flowers that resulted from a wet spring, occasionally the sun shone, the flowers burst forth, and the show was magnificent! I haven’t seen white camellias in some time–partly due to the fact that vintage varieties became monsters in the garden, where slowly but surely they grew to dwarf the modest post-war houses–but a recent warming has coaxed the colorful buds out of hiding.

My camellia is pink and is compact in size yet it serves as a cherished reminder of the grand bushes from my youth, where occasionally after several days of glorious sunshine, for a precious few moments, the pristine blooms were absolute perfection! After enjoying several days of sunny weather this past week, we have slipped back into scattered showers, which caused the blooms to turn brown… but for a few hours, the pink flowers were spectacular and the memory of my dad’s white camellias made me smile.