Common Camellia, Japanese Camellia 'Kramer's Supreme' (Camellia japonica)

Common Camellia, Japanese Camellia 'Kramer's Supreme'
Camellia japonica

A bloom just beginning to open in January. (San Antonio, Tx.)

Is this your plant, Hazel? It is very pretty. I have a couple of camellias (have to keep them in the greenhouse for winter), and I have not had great success in rooting cuttings from one of them. I think I will try airlayering as per the info on this plant. By the way, one of your namesake plants is blooming here...witchhazel...LOL.
Susan

This is a great picture, Hazel. I have a camelia planted in my yard under a pecan tree and it does great there. It is covered with buds and blooms now. Have you planted a camelia sasanqua? I have one, but it has not done very much. What is your experience with these?

Susan, thanks. I thought the bloom half opened looked neat. I wish it were my plant, but it isn't. Unfortunately, I can't grow them in my alkaline soil. After seeing this one, I would love to grow one in a container, but I have so many containers to lug in and out of the house in the winter that I almost can't keep up with them. It is strange that you mentioned your witchhazel is blooming, I went into my backyard just yesterday and one of mine is blooming too. I can't help you with the rooting problem. I have never tried to do so.

Edited for typo
This message was edited Thursday, Jan 15th 4:19 PM

This message was edited Friday, Jan 16th 12:07 PM

clantonnaomi, thanks. I planted several camellias years ago when I moved into this house. Unfortunately, I could not keep the acidity level high enough to sustain the plant. Maybe I gust didn't know enough about growing it to keep thriving. It slowly declined and I had to put it out of its misery. So, I have no knowledge about camellias that I could share with you. I am sorry. Perhaps someone who does will see your and Susan's posts and will be able to assist you both.

Sorry you can't grow these Hazel. I treat mine like azaleas and they are not much trouble at all. Mine are getting rather large for pots, eventually I will have to give them away if I don't get to move South.

Susan, I may try growing them again, but in a container where I can control the acidity level. They grow so large though, this will add more work protecting them in the winter. I sure wish I had a greenhouse.

I live at the base of the Texas hill country and below my yard's thin soil layer is an almost solid layer of limestone. I have built most of my beds up using landscape timber and planted a lot in containers. In my younger days, I pounded through the limestone for at least 3 feet with a 25 lb. bar, hauled the limestone away and made my beds, but this is too much work. The limestone particles seep upward into the beds and the soil seeps down into the limestone no matter what I do making the soil on the alkaline side. I have to keep adding soil and nutrients.

If you have to give yours away, I'll bet that will hurt.

Hazel, when I decided to plant a camelia, I asked a friend of mine who is a horticulturist and landscape architect how I should plant it. He told me to dig a hole 18" deep and 24-30" square and discard all of the dirt. Use a mixture of 1/2 Canadian peat moss and 1/2 pine bark mulch and plant the camelia in it He said that ever so often to mound pine bark mulch up around the plant and to use MirAcid or something else throughout the time it is not blooming. I have done what he said, and it has done great. It is covered with blooms and I never have had any problem with it.

clantonnaomi, when I planted my camellia I dug a hole about 2 feet deep and 3 feet square and discarded all of the dirt. I used a mixture of about 1/3 rose soil (acidic) and 2/3 Canadian peat moss. I fertilized it with MirAcid ever so often. What I DIDN'T do was use pine bark mulch. Thanks for telling me this. I might just go tomorrow and buy me another one and try it. I really love them. I had thought that it may be too hot for them here in San Antonio. In north east Texas, they flourish, as do roses and azaleas. Tyler, Texas is well known for being an area where these three plants thrive.

This information will help my neighbor across the street. He has 3 azalea plants that have been there for about 18 years and they have been very sick for 15 of those years. I cringe when I see them because I know that they are not happy campers and are suffering a slow death. I'll pass along this information to him and we can share in the pine bark mulch purchase. Thanks for this information. By the way, where are you located?

Hazel, another trick to acidify the soil is to mix a tablespoon of vinegar with a gallon of water and use that when you see the leaves start to yellow slightly, (but the veins are a darker green). This is good for gardenias, too.

Beneath my thin, rocky, poor soil is an old road bed. Talk about hardpan! I dig up horseshoes, nails, broken dishes, etc, but no coins yet.

By the way, I live at GadsHill, MO where Jesse James made his first train robbery. There was a bustling railroad town here at the time, 1874. Nothing but a granite quarry here now.

Hazel, I am located in Bosque County in central Texas. I do have to admit we have good soil here because it is riverbottom; however, it certainly does not contain enough acidity to grow camelias, etc. without removing it and planting in the peat and pine bark mulch mixture. I wish you luck with yours!

Susan, I'll try the vinegar and water on some other acid-loving plants and tell my neighbor to put some on his azaleas. Thanks for the info, I've never tried that. I gave up on gardenias a long time of go too. Gosh, you sound like you have fun with your yucky soil too. Too bad you haven't found any coins yet. Are there ghost tales of Jesse James and his gang riding again through the town?

clantonnaomi, my neighbor is going to try to save his azaleas because he now knows what to do with them. You are south of Fort Wort, then, on Brazos River bottom? Iredell is to the northwest of you? I have been chatting with a Dave's Garden member that lives there.

Thanks to both of you, I am now seriously thinking of trying gardenia, azalea and camellias again and see how I do with them using your tips. Now that my yard is a lot more shady than it used to be, they will be able to take the heat better too.

No ghosts of Jesse James, thank goodness. Unfortunately, he headed north and supposedly hid his loot in Meramec Cave near St. Louis. He probably came right across our property, though.
Let me know if you want some cuttings of my camellias: red single 'Yuletide' (C. sasanqua), and pink double 'Debutante' (C. japonica) to try. I also have a florist's azalea (hardy to 25 degrees) that I always have to cut back. It is a very floriferous double bright pink (Houseplant for me, of course).
Susan

Susan, when you are ready to cut them back let me know. By then, I will have decided if I want to try them again. I am reeeeaaally contemplating it after all the tips I have received here on how to grow them properly. Thanks.

I posted an entry for a new Encore Series azalea, ('Autumn Empress') which will be entered soon. There are several new Encore azaleas developed for the south. The developers state that it is drought tolerant and blooms intermittenly practically all year long which I find hard to believe.