Photograph is of the only flower on my camellia bush taken this morning (18th february 2018).
Location is Northumberland, UK with bush on a sheltered south facing border in a weak free draining soil.
This bush has never flowered this early before (usually late spring / early summer).
All the other buds are tight and small and nowhere near to flowering.
Is this unusual?
Hello there nice flower not that uncommon for broadleaf evergreens to have flowers that are characteristically out of season. If the flower opened with those darkened tips that it now shows it could have had the bud damaged by cold weather or mechanically damaged and as such the plant decided to take a chance and flower at that site in the name of making seed. Here in the PNW US we see this happen each year and on various plants. highland rhododendrons are a fine example of sporadic flowering some have a great show in the Spring but if it is unseasonably cold we may see a good show in autumn and this is often to make up for the lost opportunity to produce seed due to the cold weather
