Smells like apricots in bloom. I went to Nuccio's in January and bought an assortment of species camellias in one gallon pots. C. brevicalyx had round red buds that remained in a state of suspended animation until the unheated greenhouse got warmed by improving weather, at which point they suddenly started to open, with the first flower lasting over a week. It was reddish and bag-like, with massive silky petals.

Send them an order, they are an international level resource that I want to stay open.

First time I had made it there, as I live in WA and they are down near Los Angeles, over on the side of the valley, in front of some abrupt hills that on that rainy winter day were green and misty - as though it was somewhere like China, oh so appropriately.