Camellia bush says thank you

Two years ago this 20+ year old camellia bush was completely covered with Carolina jessamine, Virginia creeper, wild grapevine, and smilax. The vines were growing up through the camellia, covering it, and then growing up into the laurel cherry tree next to it. Light and nutrient competition were severe. Even after the vines were removed, the camellia didn't bloom at all last year. Now it is covered with hundreds of buds. These have opened up on the lower branches. 

The nights of freezing cold we are due to get tonight and tomorrow night may knock the blooms a bit, but I feel rewarded for the time and effort of cutting all those vines down and digging up the roots. In 15 years of watching it, I have seen it bloom before, but the blooms were smaller, not enormous double blooms like these. 

There is still one piece of smilax root that is under the camellia's roots, and I haven't been able to get all of it excavated out from under there. So one small smilax vine is still there. My work is not completely done.