Camellia season

Four degrees at 9am. Misty lower down but with clear blue skies above. There's a mischievous little tang in the air to remind you it's still i giorni della merla so don't get your bikini out yet...

Here's that perfect camellia...

Camellias are a special feature of life at Lago Maggiore. The especially acid soil makes it a perfect place for them. They were first imported into the region from their native China and Japan in the early 19th century, and Verbania became a centre for cultivating them.

Today the flowering season along the lake can be really spectacular, with almost every garden displaying a variety of hybrids. When he moved here permanently in 2002, one of the first things M did was to plant five camellias in the patch of land we hoped to one day call a garden (we're still hoping).

If you cant get enough camellias, there are always several exhibitions and camellia-related events in the Lago Maggiore area. These include an exhibition in a specially-created camellia garden in Locarno, on the Swiss side of the border, in March.