Thanks so much David - very interesting info. Yes, Camellia's are approaching roses in terms of commercial cultivars so it was a bit of a shot in the dark posting a photo on here, but you never know.
This one would then be an 'early' bloomer - mid-autumn - in zone 9B/10.
I will look at pictures of the ones' you mention - it would be exciting if this was C. hiemalis - I've never owned one of these.


I have Sunset's "How to Grow and Use Camellias" in front of me. It was
published in 1968, so it would be missing some recent varieties.

Sunset describes the flower in your photo as a "rose form" camellia.
However, it might also be "semi-double with stamens among petaloids",
"peony form", or "anemone form". The book seems to have a few dozen
varieties of pale pink C. japonica with those flower forms.

Among the C. sasanqua, I saw 'Ko-Gyoku' (aka 'Little Gem' or 'Kogyoku').
Among the C. hiemalis was 'Interlude', and among C. reticulata was
'Willow Wand'.

The book cites 'Jean May' as having a double flower, which means the
yellow stamens would not be visible.

The more I dig into this, the more I believe you need a camellia expert,
possibly from the American Camellia Society. If you send them E-mail
with photos of both the flower and the overall plant (with something to
judge sizes such as a ruler or yardstick) along with a description of
your climate and when the plant blooms, they might identify your plant.
[/i][/color]

Also, Sunset categorizes bloom times as early (mid-autumn to
mid-winter), midseason (mid-winter to early spring), and late (early
spring to mid-spring).

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
My Climate
Gardening diary at David Ross's Garden Diary -- Current[/quote]