The camellia understory in our corner garden has plenty of brillient red flowers BUT not one caterpiller or bird nest — not a bug insight, not even a spider web. It’s only value to the native birds might be as a nesting site. But why bother — there’s nothing to eat.

WAIT!!! there’s a bird feeder below. Yes, I’ve been buying bird seed — ocassionally. But, once the garden has been redesigned, our plan is for the native plants to produce the appropriate berries, seeds, and flowers, more reliably year-round so the birds and pollinators will know where they can get food.

The camellia is a flowering plant from the Theaqseae family. Found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia, it is definately NOT native to North Carolina. Grrrrrrrrrrr … . Why are so many readily available plants from somewhere ELSE?

However, it was selected (at the time) because it’s placement represents fame, the color is red, and the element is fire.  More information about how to use the Bagua in garden design can be found in The Feng Shui Garden by Gill Hale.

Now that I know better and have a different agenda, the camellia has to be replaced with a native plant that represents elements from the Bagua. In fact, we’ll be redesigning the entire garden. As soon as we’ve made those decisions, I’ll post them on this blog.