Camellia season is waning in the SC lowcountry but a few spectacular blooms can still be found.
There are numerous shades of pink.
And seemingly endless flower shapes.
The two-tone varieties are some of my favorites:
Google has shared with me: “There are over 250 known species of camellias, with more than 30,000 cultivars registered or published.”
Middleton Place, Charleston, SC
March 27, 2026
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
July 16, 2025
Repeating myself here, from two years ago: The symmetry and bling of the historic Nathaniel Russell House is on full display in the oval drawing room.
These tri-column mirror panels act like a fun-house mirror, just shifting your position an inch or two changes the scene.
Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Charleston, SC
June 3, 2025
This home has been restored to its 1808 appearance and is part of the Historic Charleston Foundation collection.
Additional posts of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum
The decorative fences in the older sections of Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery fascinate me and the bloom azaleas really help them stand out.
Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC
March 27, 2025
In March the Historic Foundation held The Charleston Festival 2024 which included Designer Vignettes at the Aiken-Rhett House Museum.
On the second floor works from several artists were on display including canvases, floral arrangements and other interior design setups.
The work “Spilled Lavender,” which is a 4 foot by 4 foot (1.25 meter) square, hung above a mantle gives a sense of the height of the space in this once opulent home.
From the Historic Charleston Foundation website:
When the Foundation assumed ownership in 1995, we adopted a preserved-as-found preservation approach, meaning the structure and contents are left in an “as-found” state, including furniture, architecture and finishes that have not been altered since the mid 19th century.
Hence the unpainted walls:
On the other side of the bedroom a splash of tulips highlighted a display.
Aiken-Rhett House Museum, Historic Charleston Foundation
Charleston, SC
March 15, 2024
In March the Historic Foundation held The Charleston Festival 2024 which included Designer Vignettes at the Aiken-Rhett House Museum.
Jill Hooper was the featured artist with her exhibition Windows into Another World, “a glimpse into a Utopian setting of humans and animals/nature —birds, fawns, giraffes, butterflies, coyotes…and beyond.”
I was fascinated by her main work and the high ceilinged setting of the preserved Aiken-Rhett House made it more fanciful.
Our planning to get there shortly after they opened paid off with some opportunities to photograph without other visitors.
On the other end of the double parlor were other Jill Hooper works, notably her self portrait.
And some smaller sketches.
From the outside, on the porch, looking in.
Aiken-Rhett House Museum, Historic Charleston Foundation
Charleston, SC
March 15, 2024
Following up on my last post about seeing the French Huguenot Church from the parking garage…
The spire of St. Philips Church dominates the view in this direction. You can just make out a sliver of the French Huguenot Church’s decorative top in the lower right corner.
From the other direction, at street level.
The gate from the inside of the fence, looking towards the Dock Street Theater and French Huguenot Church.
St. Philips Church, Charleston, SC
February 27, 2024
I have parked in the upper floors of the Cumberland Street garage many times, but never had noticed how the Gothic details of the French Huguenot Church were visible.
I was more familiar with this view, at street level.
It was a dull day so the pink doesn’t seem as striking as when the sun is fully out, but it is still pink. See my post from just over a year ago, French Huguenot Church, Pink for a comparison.
French Huguenot Church, Charleston, SC
February 27, 2024
Around Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, morning of June 16th.
I liked the imperfection at the top of this bloom.
A thistle, with such an interesting shape and so many textures.
I’ve always liked the alien look of the Button bush flowers, but they have taken on a new feel in the post-COVID world after we’ve seen so many magnified viruses.
Many of the older Magnolia trees don’t seem to have bloomed as well this year as I remember. This was a good specimen.
I don’t know what this is, but I do like it.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
June 16, 2023
If any of you follow my husband, Ted Jennings/TPJ Photo, you might have seen his post He Couldn’t Wait, Alligator, a series of an Alligator walking across a walkway.
I had passed by before the Alligator came out of the pond on the right, and turned just to see him disappearing into the pond on the left. This was what I saw:
