Exploring the Camellia Collection at Columbus Botanical Garden

January 25, 2019

I have been bored out of my mind because I could not do any work at the Aquarium during the government shutdown. I mostly seemed to lay around and read or play on my computer. I was scheduled to go help my friends, Jim and Debbi on Saturday so I decided to run into Columbus, about forty minutes away, for groceries to bring them lasagne. I also decided to walk four miles and decided that the walk in the woods of the Columbus Botanical Garden would be a fine place to start.

This is a small garden and doesn't have much to see in winter, but it does have vegetable garden with winter vegetables and a nice long set of  through the woods.  It also has a wonderful camilla collection which is starting to bloom now.

I enjoyed about an hour of the collection and walked a mile.   The camellias come in many shades and combinations of pink and white and red.  Some are single flowers while others have double or even triple blooms. They were not at their peak because the area had gotten a hard rain a few days earlier and many blooms had fallen off or turned brown on the bush.

One of the few shrubs in bloom

The vegetable garden is in six beds, three on each side of the steps leading to the barn which is used for classes and meetings

I loved the clear red of this downward hanging camellia and how it looks like a flamenco dancer's skirt 

A pink and white camellia

This pink had more rose in it

Many of the bushes were mostly in bud - but I found them pretty as well

This camellia looked a lot like a rose

These are probably species camellias, before the plant breeders got hold of them

This is a triple bloom

Another single flower

Some of the flowers seemed to be thicker than others.  These were some of the most delicate ones

I liked the way this pair seemed to be part of one flower

This is one of a group of camellias that have very prominent and numerous pistils and stamens

I loved the line of buds terminating in a flower

How could you not be happy looking at this

I think this is an old variety as I've seen very similar flowers for many years across the south

Another sweet thing

I like the white flowers with streaks of color better than I like the dark flowers with streaks of white

I was struck at how much this looked like a dancer's skirt

The arrangement of these petals gave this bloom a mysterious aura

I decided to go on to Flat Rock Park.  I'll save those pictures for another time. On the way, I learned that Trump had agreed to reopen the government.  I decided to treat myself to a seafood meal.  When I got to Rosehill Restaurant, famous for its fried catfish and oysters, I found the oysters were $10 a dozen.  I had two dozen in the oyster bar. I chatted with my shucker and he ended up giving me the biggest oysters, while saving the smaller ones for the restaurant orders.

Very good oysters from Florida -  I ate 26 

Altogether, a very good day.  And I was supposed to work today and got to reopen the Aquarium. I'll probably be working almost every day between now and February 5 when I pack to leave.  I spent the day volunteering with Jim and Debbie, bumping up plants and digging out thornless blackberries that had wandered out of their bed.