What I thought was a late blooming camellia turns out to be a pretty little shrub called Raphiolepis
Sometimes you can look at a shrub and tell yourself that it looks like its' neigbor, so you can guess what it might be and then gather information along the way - like flower structure, color, and so on. So last year I found not one but two camellias that bloomed in November through January. A little research told me that some camellias bloom into spring as well. So my non blooming 'camellia' I assumed must be one of those. Nope. As I was grubbing around the shrub, I came across a flower that was definately not camellia like. Fortunately I also came across a label. Raphiolepis 'Snow White'. This is also known as white hawthorn which is only hardy to zone 8. As we are not zone 8 here it is doing very well and must be in a protected spot.
There is something wonderful about being able to absolutely determine what something is!
