Camellias II (茶花二)

I knew that there's a garden for flower exhibition at Shenzhen. I was curious what I would find there. Much to my delight, I discovered when I arrived there that the Seventh Annual Exhibition of Camellias was in full swing.  I have never seen so many different varieties of camellias my entire life. What a treat.

There were camellias in pinkish red

Another one fully opened

This one has patches of white

Another one in light pink

There were some with a much stronger pink but mottled with a lighter shade of pink

This one seems to have far less petals
 

The interior of one of them

This one looks more like a carnation than a camellia

This one is white but has some red spots

This one is entirely white

This one looks more like a rose than a conventional camellia.

This camellia looks as if it came out of the page of a Chinese "flower calendar"

This one is far more delicate



These two look as if they were made with wax

It's the first time that I saw camellias in such a color.

The Camellias came from all over the world from all the different continents: Asia, Europe, Australia and even the Americas.

The famous Sung poet Su Shih has written many poems about the camellia. One I like very much is "Camellias at the Buddhist Practice Temple. Here it is with my English translation.

梵行寺茶花 山茶相對花誰栽 細雨無人我獨來 說似與君君不見 爛紅如火雪中開 蘇軾

Camellias at the Buddhist Practice Temple Who’s that who groomed such pairs of camellias None but I came in the drizzle Though not there,  you'd be with me or so I'm told Leaving only the flaming red to bloom in the snow Su Shih  tr. El Zorro