What is tea doing in autumn?

Blooming, mostly.

Tea is an evergreen camellia. Like other camellias, it has waxy leaves that persist, and single-peta,l camellia-type blossoms that appear in the colder months. It's November now, and my tea plants began blooming a few weeks ago. They will bloom now and again through the winter. Some of the blossoms will make seeds, which I could collect and germinate if I wanted to.

The flushes of young leaves have ceased since I stopped picking the bushes. Once the season turned to high summer, the leaves lost their scent and flavor, and weren't worth picking. I don't know why that happened, but it is not unique to my plants. In many tea growing areas, the harvest is limited to spring and early summer. A few tea producers do an autumn harvest. I just let mine be until it's time for winter pruning.

Tea flowers are pretty, with a light, pleasant scent. They bloom at a time of year when many other blossoms have faded. Seeing the blossoms makes me happy.

Variety "Blushing Maiden"