my camellia parade

 Temple City: Home of the Camellias.
If camellias are so honored in town, why are they so hard to find?
Here, above, is a stand of camellia bushes at City Hall. It is really the only grouping in City Hall of these flowering bushes.  How about a Camellia garden, with nameplates explaining each variety, origin, genus and species? That might go along with the new bust of Walter P. Temple.

 I had to sneak onto someone' s lawn here in Temple City to show this camellia bush. I like the red ones. Crimson in color, they are sometimes mistaken for roses from afar.

 White camellias with some red camellias. But here, they are behind a tree. I had to seach and search just to find some to shoot.

 These camellias are under a portico, part of an apartment complex. I forget which street this is in town. But you would never notice they were there unless you went looking for them. And this is in a town that very much celebrates camellias. They are also in bloom now, January and February.

 I had to lift my camera over a fence to shoot these. Why aren't these flowers and plants more prominent?

Just a different angle on these white camellias. I believe these are found on Temple City Boulevard.


So here' s my rant. On Feb. 24-Feb 25, the city will hold the 68th annual Camellia Festival. And at that festival, there is hardly a camellia in site. There is a carnival with cotton candy and all sorts of booths, rides, games, etc. There's a swinging gym ride and a Twister. There's a Zipper. And there's a throw the ping-pong ball into the gold fish bowl. But very little about the whole festival says "camellias."

 I say this year, have a huge area where you can buy camellia bushes. Have a florist or a nursery person on hand to explain how to grow them, feed them, nurture them. Maybe someone dressed in a period costume explaining how all this attention to camellias came about in Temple City. And not just for five minutes, but for the whole festival, so if someone misses the ceremony with the VIPs, they can still see and learn about camellias.

I'd like to put the camellia back into the Camellia Festival.