If you love camellias or orchids, this is the post for you.

Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens has come a long way in two years. I visited in Dec. 2013, when it was little more than a bamboo farm with a camellia walk, some crape myrtles, and a lot of big dreams. Now it’s a fledgling botanical garden, with a lovely water garden, a crape myrtle allée, the start of a giant bamboo maze, edible garden (figs, cotton, mulberries, greens, fruit trees, coconuts, olive trees, et al.), a xeriscapic garden, pick-your-own berry fields, sun and shade gardens, a white garden, a tea garden, a Mediterranean garden, an orchid greenhouse, and a real visitors center. And it’s still free of charge, by donation! (The Christmas light show is $8 per person.)

Today I’m going to spotlight the camellias and the orchids, both amazingly varied flowers.

Camellias

Orchids

I don’t know the names of any of these; they weren’t labelled. But I love them just the same.