NEW ORLEANS - Camellia gardens will be on display on both shores of Lake Pontchartrain the weekend of Feb. 18.

On Saturday the 18th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds an annual open house at the Lacombe headquarters for its Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges Complex . The site, with 400 varieties of camellias, azaleas and other native plants, once was called "Bayou Gardens."

Visitors can join free guided tours or wander through the gardens, which are regularly open without tours.

On Sunday, Feb. 19, the LSU AgCenter's Hammond Research Station holds its annual Camellia Garden Stroll .

More than 800 camellias were planted there from the 1930s to the early 1950s. Research changes left the plantings neglected in the 1990s. But Tangipahoa Parish master gardeners cleaned up and maintain the camellia garden.