While I am not sure of the statistics, I have to believe that the love of growing and gardening must skip a generation. Looking back, I realized that I missed a huge opportunity to learn great things from my grandfather. As a young child, the last thing I wanted to do was take a bucket and pick string beans down a never ending row in the dusty, hot afternoon sun. Nor did I want to snap and string those beans in the evening after dinner. As an adult, now that I have had some success at growing things, mostly flowers, because that is what makes me happy, I realize that I missed the chance to gather the knowledge from his lifetime. Beans were not the only thing he grew in abundance, corn was also a bumper crop. I 'fondly' remember sitting in the back of a full sized pick up truck, full of corn, under the trees in my yard knowing that as soon as we finished shucking the corn, we would then have to blanch it, put it in bags or cut it off of the cob.

The fond memories come when I remember the beautiful camellias that were planted under those trees where the truck was parked. The blooms at that time were still a few months away. The home I grew up in had an abundance of fabulous camellia bushes. The bushes came with the house, of course, being that the ability to grow things skips a generation and my mother never planted a thing.  They were virtually maintenance free and had so many blooms that we cut them by the grocery bags full (that would be the paper kind - the only ones available then) and gave them away. We had several different varieties, their names I could not share as I knew nothing about genus and species back then. But I did know that the flowers were beautiful, great for cutting and bringing inside, and the bushes were attractive even when they were not flowering.

Camellias are still one of my favorites. What is not to like? The bushes are beautiful, with their dark glossy leaves and beautiful mature shape, and the flowers, oh the flowers. I will have to say, now that I know something about them, the japonicas would be my favorites. Blooming in the winter before everything else wakes up, with so many different colors and flower varieties.   It is so hard to choose a favorite. Do I choose the 'Ella Ward Parsons' with what appears to be hundreds of perfect small petals to form a compact light pink perfect bloom or do I choose one of the variegated varieties, like 'Dad's Pink' that blooms pink with a red stripe, or wait, what about 'Koto No Kaori' full of vivid pink flowers with the fabulous yellow stamens? To make them even more desirable, they prefer the shade, I can have a beautiful spot of color in the winter in the darkest spot of my yard - instant smile!

Koto No Kaori

Looking back, maybe I did learn something from my grandfather. I have grown a vegetable or two, but if it comes down to it, I will have to learn to eat flowers. Speaking of eating flowers, did you know that the Charleston Tea Plantation is right in our own back yard and while they don't use the camellia flower for tea, they do use the leaves of certain camellia plants. And my mother, bless her heart! I am glad that gardening gene found me. I cannot even imagine where I would be able to find so much joy and satisfaction if not for my plants and flowers.