Tea plants!

I have been pining for tea bushes (Camellia sinensis) for about 3 years, ever since I learned they will grow in our region.  Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill sells tea bushes, among other gorgeous things, and has instructions for how to make the leaves ready to use on their website.

They aren't, however, open at all times for retail sales.  So, I was delighted yesterday to have remembered that they were open when I was going to have some available money in the bank.

I bought one pink flowering and 3 small leaf tea bushes.  Then, I spent a large part of the afternoon digging up sod.  I finished getting the sod up this morning.

We intend to mulch where most of the shade is in the front of the yard very heavily this year and are buying a trailer to haul it with.  The tea bushes need a semi-shady spot and that means either back in the woods or in the front.  Since the back is REALLY shady, the front seemed to be the best choice.  But, it is full of grass.  And mowing around the tea would be a pain in the buttocks.  And they need soil amendment because our clay isn't their favorite place to live.

So, first, sod removal.

Then, soil amendment with vermiculite, cow manure and "organic garden soil" worked into the native clay, followed by planting the bushes.

Then, mulch.

It has rained here a little bit the last couple of days so the ground was pretty moist, but we are sprinkling them a little anyway to settle their dirt and be sure they have a good start.

I'm just tickled to pieces.