I’m thrilled I have a fairly large, travertine paved terrace connected to my new apartment in Florence. Before I even bought myself food to eat, I found myself buying plants. For people who know me, this is not a surprise!

I mean, camellias are my very favorite flower in the world and when I saw them for sale the first week I was here in my local grocery store, how could I resist?

Almost before I fed myself, I was out planting my two new camellia shrubs in the planter box that rings my terrazza. They had buds but no blossoms. I chose two pink blooming shrubs. The only other color on offer that day was white and since white makes me think of snow and I’ve spent so much of my life dealing with that sometimes pretty but always inconvenient white substance, I prefer flowers with vibrant hues. Not very long ago I was snowed-in at my cabin home on the lake in rural Illinois.

Supposedly the shrub I’ve shown in bloom above is called Nuccio’s Cameo. You never know for sure when you are buying plants that are labeled if the label is the right one. I’ve seen behind the scenes at plant wholesalers and farms, and it is easy for a mistake to be made when adding the label. In fact, I question whether the blooms above are Nuccio’s Cameo. The picture in the label looks a little more coral than pink and my blossoms are pure, unadulterated pink, so chissa’? For me it is unimportant, I love it no matter what you call it!

The second shrub I bought, seen below, was this variety, called Nuccio’s Pearl. Isn’t it interesting that the plant label is in English? I’d like it better if it were in Italian. This shrub has many buds and you can be sure I’ll be back with photos as soon as it blossoms. I wonder if it will have the paler center like the photo on the label or whether, like my first shrub, it will be all pink, glorious pink?

Here’s the backside of one of the passaporto delle piante. I love that designation for a label of this kind. You can see it at the bottom left. And here, at least, we have a little Italian. Grazie a dio. How am I ever gonna learn without seeing it??!!