The Camellia Society of the Potomac Valley has a nice website that lists suitable varieties and has great cultural information. For some reason, they don't list my favorite Ackerman hybrid "Winter's Fire". Winter's Fire is a large red single-flowered hybrid that blooms in the fall. Good luck :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Camellia Society of the Potomac Valley

Despite their new popularity Chiritas are still not widely available except from specialty (which usually means mail-order) nurseries. I have seen VERY limited offerings of gesneriads at nurseries in the DC area--you might try Behnke's in Beltsville, MD, where I've seen a smattering of Columnea, Nematanthus & Streptocarpus, (but never Chirita). But your best bet is still membership in a local chapter, which will usually get you access to many new, rare, or otherwise hard-to-find gesneriads. Speaking of which, I am the membership chair of the Washington, DC chapter. Feel free to send me a private message with your home and/or email address and I will make sure you get a copy of the newsletter. There is a meeting at the arboretum on Saturday, April 14, at 10:30 am in the administration building; there is usually a good assortment of plants for swap, raffle and/or sale at meetings. This month's speakers are Dee (not Lee) & Bob Stewart, visiting from the New England chapter, who are phenomenal growers with eclectic tastes and will almost certainly bring a few interesting plants to sell or give away. Several chapter members also grow chiritas and there are usually a few available at meetings. (Sorry about the out-of-date chapter website, there has been talk about giving it a major overhaul.)

Vedia Eidelman - Bouganvillea is tropical, and is hardy in zones 10 and 11. It can be grown in zone 9 if in a protected location. You can grow it in a pot, outdoors, but if you have a greenhouse where it can have a longer period of warmth, it would provide you with more growth. Obviously you would need to heat the greenhouse, or at the least, bring the container inside when temps start getting in the 30's. Growing it outside, and leaving it, in your zone, will simply be treating it as an annual. It will not survive.

The National Botanical Gardens, on the mall between the Capitol and the Museum of the American Indian (which is an amazing place to visit, having its own interesting gardens along with my favorite restaurant of all the Smithsonian eateries), is chock full of interesting things. Bartholdy Park, behind the conservatory, is always spectacular, and the new National Garden was opened just last year. It's a little raw at this point, but still interesting. Farther afield, Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria (about 10 minutes south of DC off 395) is a great municipal garden with a terriffic plant shop run and supplied by volunteers. Brookside Gardens in Maryland (just to the north of the city) is a similar setup - I haven't been there, but it sounds great. Have fun!