Sasanqua Camellias in Bloom

Every year at this time the sasanqua camellias start blooming and the pink blooms brighten the landscape on otherwise gloomy days.  The Sasanqua Camellia is also known as the Christmas Camellia and it originated in China and Japan.  It is an evergreen shrub and has glossy leaves.  In Japan the leaves are used to make tea and the seeds are used to make tea oil that is used in cooking, lubricating, for lighting, according to what I read in Wikipedia.

Here is one of the pretty pink flowers after an early morning rain.

Pink Camellia Blooms

As I was looking at the flower, one of the bees from the colony of honeybees that live inside the column at our side door buzzed in for some pollen.

Busy bee

Sometimes we'll pick a handful of them and float them in a crystal bowl full of water as a centerpiece on our table.  It is a simple formality that brightens up meal time.

It's not only the bees that enjoy our camellias, we do too.  In reading about them, I was interested in learning how they make tea with the leaves.  You use only the fresh, new growth on the ends.  It's called a spear and two flags (2 leaves and the pointy end of a leaf about to open).  Once you harvest, you crumble and allow to dry/ferment for a few days.  Then you dry the leaves in the oven at 250 degrees for a short while and then you brew it.  I've got this on my list of things to try.  I never knew that we had a source of tea leaves sitting in our landscaping!