Our native plant society made a field trip to south Mississippi a few weeks ago. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the silky camellia (Stewartia malacodendron) in full bloom. I’ve used the picture here as my screen saver since then.

It’s interesting to view all the flower parts at close range. The stamens are royal purple. The top of the pistil has a untique star shape. It’s just a beautiful flower.

I have a five year plant growing on my creek bank. It looks healthy and has survived some serious drought. However, it has yet to bloom.

We are used to buying flats full of annuals in full bloom but flowering takes a while in the wild. I have an almost 20 year old stand of bigleaf magnolias (Magnolia macrophylla) in my back yard. They bloomed last year for the first time and then skipped this year. Musta needed a rest.