‘Yuletide’ Camellia sasanqua should bloom for Christmas, as the name implies. It typically does. However, it sometimes blooms early or late. It might be slightly late this year, but has been blooming for quite a while, and was beginning to bloom by Christmas.
It certainly is a delightful red. It seems to me that it can be slightly more reddish, with less of a pink influence, in some situations. Perhaps the bright yellow of the staminate centers cause it to appear as such within certain weather conditions or sunlight exposures. This particular flower may seem to be slightly pinkish as a result of distress. The hedge that it bloomed on had been infested with red spider mite earlier.
This particular cultivar of Camellia sasanqua develops distinctly upright and perhaps ovoid form, and can get quite tall. Most other cultivars develop more irregular or sprawling form, with long and limber stems, and relatively short stature.
I am impressed that this bloom is so resilient to wintry weather. Although much of the foliage is under a wide eave, most of the bloom is not under the eave, so has been exposed to both rain and frost. Apparently, Camellia sasanqua bloom is resilient to frost that is colder than it gets here. Camellia flower blight is common regionally, but mysteriously does not damage many flowers within the landscapes here. White and light pink Camellia japonica flowers are more vulnerable, but even they bloom quite nicely here, with only a few flowers succumbing before they finish bloom, and generally as their cumulative bloom cycle is finishing anyway.
Deer eat any cultivar of any species of Camellia, but avoid camellias here more mysteriously than camellia flower blight. I do not remember ever encountering damage that was caused by deer; and there are many camellias here.
Tony Tomeo 
So fascinating, Tony. Our C. Yuletide stands out from our other nearby Camellia shrubs for that slender, upright, ovoid form you mentioned. It also has more visible trunks, without any pruning on my part. The flower on ours is a deeper red, which stands out from the other nearby C. sasanquas, which are closer to the pink shade in your photo. The stamens do pop, don’t they? Our Camellias took a great deal of abuse from the deer when young but not so much in the area around our C. Yuletide (knock on wood!). They do still in other areas of the garden. Younger plants take more abuse than older ones. The deer still visit, and focus their attention on nearby H. quercifolias. Always interesting to see what they leave alone and what they graze. It is remarkable how well Camellias stand up to cold and weather. Ours are out in the open, without eaves or walls for shelter. While blossoms will sometimes turn brown after the cold, the foliage remains pristine. Wonderful plants!
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Yes, their resilience to frost is impressive. When I was in school, I thought that they would not survive in climates with any more frost than we experience here. I had seen excellent specimens in Sacramento, but thought that was the northern extremity of their range. I was later amazed to see how well they perform in Portland!
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Plants can be much more resilient than we give them credit for – but then comes the odd weather pattern that damages something we thought was safe. When the Camellias were first imported, as you probably know, they were only grown in glasshouses. Portland has a special climate- they (usually) have milder winters than do we, because of your ocean currents. But Oregon is having much worse weather than we are this week, and I certainly hope that the Camellias, and other tender shrubs growing in Portland, are protected.
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I noticed windmill palms in Portland in the early 1990s, but no one believed me. They are clearly visible from Highway 5 just north of Portland. Then, once people realized that windmill palms perform well there, they suddenly became popular. A few live in my Pa’s neighborhood near Silverdale, across Puget Sound from Seattle.
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That is amazing. I definitely think of palms as thriving further south of us, but the ones you sent are growing well, standing up to this cold spell, and looking generally happy! The Puget Sound area is so stunningly beautiful. Wonderful that you have a reason to visit up that way.
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Well, this region is quite awesome as well. I enjoy going to my Pa’s home at the end of winter, but I find that the region is not a good fit for me. Seattle was a trendy place for my generation, but I have been unimpressed with it. It is like a damp San Jose.
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