I am in love with my Camellias

Just ask my sister- it is true. I could wax endlessly about the charms of my Camellia Sinensis, the Camellia from which tea is made. Possibly this devotion is a bit disturbing, at least to some people- regardless, I got them both as teeny itsy bitsy seedlings, and I love watching them on their shelf by my bed. They have grown so enthusiastically, surviving a rogue grasshopper that found its way to my room and ate mercilessly until caught- hence the ragged leaves in some of the pics- and then both starting little "babies" of their own, little sprouts next to the original stem. The first bloom either has ever had opened a couple days ago. The statement that I burst with happiness waking up to that almost passed beyond the land of the simile. Somewhere, my sister just rolled her eyes and snorted.

The brown powder is cinnamon I use against fungus and those little annoying fungus gnats, 

both of which I sometimes have trouble with in the winter.

Lost a beautiful African Violet to fungus gnats, 

first I had dealt with them- not happy.

A cutting from one of my grandmother's Camellias. 

She used to love propagating her Camellias (and Gardenias)

but honestly not sure what cultivar this is, other than that it flowers red.

Doing very well, though!

 And of course my beloved red hibiscus! Intense "true" red,

 clear and deep and velvety in person,

but she just loves photographing with an intense orange reflection.

Oh well, still pretty, even if my photography skills are not such as can 

figure out how to get her actual color.