Photo a Day 86 - Fridays Flowers

The autumn leaves are barely hanging on and soon the trees will look bare and skeletal. I guess we are lucky in Australia that most of our native vegetatian is evergreen, so there is always something vibrant and living in the garden.

At the moment the camellias are just beginning to flower. They are such rewarding shrubs and so hardy up here in the cool climate of our hills. I remember as a child my spinster great-aunts had two camellias growing in their city garden and they were regarded as garden treasures. Their brother (my grandfather) was a horticulturalist and nurseryman and he planted and nurtured them.  I am going back 70 years before all the modern hybrids were available and the camellias were very intolerant of the Adelaide summers. Now they are everywhere. The tanten (aunts) would always give my mother a bunch of camellias as thanks for visiting them.

Here are some of the varieties growing in my garden.

Such a variety of form and colour. I just love them.

Liz Needle  -  linking with  "Floral Friday Fotos"  and "Todays Flowers".