Longriver, I thought you are Vietnamese living in California. What are you doing in Yunnan? Lol. Never mind, Yunnan is like filled with 50 some ethnic groups. I know Dali City. How far is Chuxiong from Dali?

I have no clue what are you talking about. I am a genuine cowboy from Panhandle, Oklahoma, USA. Many look like cowboy with a pick up are actually fake ones. I had real cowboy training. Well that was just a part of my fun life in college days.

The Longriver is actually the common name of Yangtze River in China. Now You know. Chuxiong is about 2&1/2 to 3 hours bus ride from Dali. It will be the host city for 2012 International Camellia Congress Meeting.

By the way I could take a 5 days tour to Vietnam from Yunnan. Further more Northern Vietnam and Guanxi Province, China are the natural habitat areas for C. nitidissima and many other yellow camellia species. You have a good knowledge about Yunnan. You might have been the nearby before.

Longriver, for those who do not know, I include a few pictures of Dali. Have you been to these places?

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Real Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. I have been kunming twice, not in Dali. I shall enjoy seeing the City on the 18th of Feb. Believe or not hundreds of the hybrids of Yunnan tea flowers(C. reticulata) are in new English names. Most western camellia lovers have no clue that they came from Yunnan, China. They yet have many more camellia species to offer that should be very valuable to camellia horticulture.

I shall go there to pay my respect of Camellia culture in Yunnan. Three of my new 'white reticulata' hybrids, are named after three Buddha temples(including Guan-Yin) in Dali City. They are already in propagation in China that will be my gift to Dali City.

My purpose is to promote Camellia interest world wide. All are just fun for myself. The picture here is a pure C. reticulata flower called 'Envy Sky's Height' originated from Kunming. This '«ë¤Ã°ª' plant in my yard is about 28 years old.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:503307}}

Longriver, your C. reticulata "Envy SkyÂs Height" is absolutely stunning! The leaves remind me of that of roses. Do they have unique fragrance? What a fresh breath of air!

There is no known fragrant reti or reti hybrid. I developed a few fragrant camellias but they are not of reti origin. Fragrant camellia is also my dream flower. I am working in different directions, hopefully to produce better ones later.

Longriver, I saw the calendar. Thanks. Those are so beautiful. I like your cultivar(s) in particular. Congratulations.

The opening of Camellia Festival at Dali City Yunnan Province, China was in Feb 2008. I was amazed to see that C. reticulata flowers were so much larger and brighter at Dali. The experts mentioned to me due to high elevation and more ultra violet light stimulating the fantastic flower disply. This long camellia street leaded to real camellia show flower area.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:503308}}