Camellia sasanqua 'Yulletide' 9 December 2024

 When people tell me or ask me, “What would have Rosemary wanted you to do?” I plainly object in silence. Rosemary was not always easy to predict when she was alive.

Today is the fourth anniversary of her death. I have run out of words like melancholic, sad, depressed, etc. Today I will opt for sombre. It is a sombre day. But I wanted to find something positive to smile about.

In the morning the thought finally came to me. Every year we would shop for a Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’. It blooms around Christmas with lovely red flowers with yellow stamens. This camellia is tender and it does not seem to survive the year. The one from last year did not.

Yes, Rosemary would have immediately agreed with me that we would have to buy one and place it on our front door as our botanical Christmas decoration.

I called every garden centre in town. They had sold out. It seems that people have found out of the wonders of the plant. As a last resort I called the far-away Mandeville gardens. None of the phone numbers were answered. I was about to give up when a woman did answer and did tell me that they had several of them. I told her I was going to drive immediately to get. It was waiting for me. After paying $91.84 it was mine.

It felt almost a shame to cut one of the flowers to scan. I have several scans of the flowers from the past year. Somehow I did not think that was correct. It was cheating.

And so tonight, while it is a sombre night where I miss my Rosemary, at the very least, I do know that:

Rosemary would have wanted me to do this. And quoting a bit of St. Luke, I did it in remembrance of her.