Visitors walking into the Brookhaven Recreation Center for this weekend’s 50th annual Camellia Show were treated, as always, to a smorgasbord of nature’s bounty in the form of the various ornamental species commonly known as camellias.

Spread out along white-clothed tables, the flower specimens, ranging in color from white, through all shades of pink and rose to red, were truly a sight to behold, and for me, allergy sufferer that I am, the beauties, thankfully, caused no sniffles.

I have one large mostly pink-and-rose-colored camellia growing at the corner of my front porch. The nearly 12-foot-tall shrub came with the house when I bought it, and without any assistance from me, provides a full crop of blooms each February.

I had learned at last year’s camellia show that the participating growers would be happy to try to identify unknown varieties, so I clipped off a blossom and carried it with me to the show this year.

I left it on the table where others had placed their mystery blooms, along with a note asking for assistance, and, sure enough, I soon had a probable I.D.

My large flower was likely an Elegans Variegated Camellia, I was told. My mysterious beauty now has a name!

Speaking of names, I noticed that the camellias in the show had lots of interesting names, with many of them coming from real people. Shirley Estes had a pink bloom called Willard Scott, which I found out wasn’t named for the famous T.V. weatherman, but rather for the gardener of the camellia’s original propagator.

Estes’s Willard Scott entry won unprotected best of show medium bloom.

Any camellia enthusiast will be happy to tell you his or her flower’s history.

“Camellia lore is almost as important to us as is the flower,” Estes said.

Now half a century old, the local show is quite a draw for those interested in growing and showing camellias. Judges and growers came from far and wide, traveling here from all over the state, Louisiana and even from as far away as Florida.

Bette Hooton of Pensacola told me she’s been coming to the show for years, pointing out that this year, her husband, Richard, won an award for best unprotected Reticulata, large to very large.

Like a show cat or dog, the camellias required grooming before making their way into competition. I came across Dean Benko of Pensacola while she was getting one of her blooms ready.

“Why the grooming?” I asked. Her husband Ron explained the blossoms sustained damage from the winter, which can be snipped away carefully.

Late frosts cause brown spots on the petals, said Homer Richardson, show chairman. Conversely, weather that is too warm can cause petal blight, also discoloring the blooms, he added.

The recent unusually warm weather also caused “a lot of the flowers to blossom out” in advance of the show, Richardson added.

But despite a less-than-cooperative Mother Nature, 1,332 entries filled the rec center Saturday and Sunday, prompting Richardson to add additional table space for blooms.

He had been hoping for a thousand, “which would be a good show,” he told me early Saturday as growers began arriving with their plastic tubs full of specimens.

The Brookhaven Camellia Society, which hosts the annual event, served dinner for 30 Friday night and lunch for 85 judges and other show volunteers, said Homer’s wife Lynn.

“Patti Perkins performs the miracle of the loaves and fishes,” Lynn said of the meals and refreshments provided. “She’s over the hospitality room,” Lynn explained.

Thinking of the refreshments and Southern hospitality brings to mind what is perhaps the most well loved camellia of all, Camellia Sinensis, the tea plant. Yes, the source of the South’s signature beverage comes from yet another species of the beautiful camellia.

So even after this season’s camellia performance has ended and the final petal has blanketed the ground, we will still enjoy our flowers’ delightful cousin all summer long.

Rachel Eide is editor/general manager of The Daily Leader. Contact her at reide@dailyleader.com.