by Lydia Holley February 3, 2025
Camellias are a lovely evergreen plant with flowers that, at quick glance, resemble roses. It is common for camellias to bloom in winter, though they are not always in flower during Christmas and New Year’s. Japonica camellias generally bloom in early spring and sasanqua camellias often bloom in late fall. This year, most of my fall-blooming camellias are still in full bloom.
Not only are my camellias in flower, but my roses are also blooming. It is not often roses are still flowering during Christmas and New Year’s. But this year, the weather has been mild enough for most of them to have a few blooms on their stems, and some are in full bloom.
Do not be worried about this occurrence. It will mostly likely get cold (forcing the roses to go dormant) long before mid-to-late February, the time to prune many roses. If we do not receive any cold weather this year at all, still do not worry. You should prune your roses at the right time even if they never go out of bloom. They will flower again approximately six weeks after they are pruned. The danger is pruning them too early and having a deep freeze damage new growth.
With both roses and camellias blooming together, it seems more like fall than winter. But I know in Texas, you can not get too comfortable. A late arctic blast is not uncommon and many gardeners still have memories of losing plants during the late deep freeze of a few years ago. A late freeze is generally more expected than a winter that continually stays mild until spring.
Whether the weather turns cold or not, spring will arrive eventually. Then we can look forward to summer, and to the roses blooming yet again.
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