I've had lots of buds on my camellias for quite sometime, and since it's so late into winter, I was thinking they weren't going to bloom this year. I've been told that sometimes plants don't bloom the first year, but it finally did. Now I'm a beginner, and I don't know much, but isn't this a little late?
anyway, here's my first bloom....
Hey Jennifer-
I have camellias too. The first year I had ONE flower on ONE shrub. This year, they loaded up with buds but so far only Mrs. Charles Cobb is blooming- she is the one that bloomed last year too with the one sad flower. But I have other buds just waiting to open. My 2 that I planted last spring don't have a single bud. But yes, Camellias are slow growers and do take a while to fully mature and bloom. Yours looks great! :)
Jamie
Thanks Txgarden. I don't know which kind I have. I didn't know there were so many different plants with the same common name, and I threw my lables away after we planted them. I did the same with my hostas, and I've regretted it so much.
Your camellia is beautiful.
Jdee-
That is one lesson I actually learned from other people's mistakes! I was fortunate in that aspect- so I keep every lable from everything I plant. Of course I always swear I will remember what is what, but I never do! My best friend got into gardening before I did, and she was keeping a journal where she just tapes the lable off the plant, gives a description of where it is, then updates it each season with how it did. Then I got to listen to her complain about plants she can't identify- her "pre keep the lable days if you will. :)
Anyway, I have one like yours- solid red bloom. I will look at the tag tonight and see what it is. If you go in PlantFiles and just type in camellia, it will bring up a whole bunch of them. You can scroll down until you see pics that look familiar to you. Or, use the Identification forum. There are lots of very knowledgable people on DG and I know someone could ID it for you!!!
Jamie
Hey all! I'm so proud, and I just had to show you why. Look how many blooms I have on that camellia shub now.
Here is a close up of my fully opened flower. Can anyone tell me what kind of camellia I have? I threw away my lables, not realizing that Later I would whish I had them.
I have two camelia shrubs, and one of them doesn't have blooms yet, but there are a few buds like this one, so I guess I can call both camellias a success. Can't I?
I took this photo so I can show both of them. My front yard is mostly shady, but the one that has more blooms is located in the deepest shade. I guess they don't like any sun.
Both of you have some beautiful camelias!
You are probably tired of seeing this picture but I have to point out my two camelias. One on each side of the statue. They aren't flowering in this picture (probably taken mid-summer) but you can see how healthy they were. They have been in pots for close to four years now and bloomed beautifully starting in November through December. They don't look to healthy now for the first time and I believe I am going to cut them back and repot them in larger pots. I may even try to find homes for them in my front bed.
Don't you love having blooms in the winter? I am in love with camellias!
Jdee- yours looks a bit like mine. The one I have pictured is Mrs. Charles Cobb.
BTW Terrie- I have never seen that picture so I'm not "tired" of it. Unless it's one in your thread in the photo forum... but I never get sick of looking at pretty garden shots... and I am forgetful so I probably won't remember if you post it again somewhere else in 5 minutes. Ha!
Jamie
I'd never seen it before either. Thanks for sharing it with me.
Well done, jdee! I will have to add camelias to my must have list.
John
Hello to all. I'm happy to say my camellias are in full bloom now.
Beautiful plant.
What a beautiful red!
I am so jealous! I put in a Light Pink Flowering Espaliered Camelia last March and it was loaded with buds in December. But then all of the buds turned brown and rotted. There were at least 20 of them. I pinched them all off a little over a week ago because they were drooping brown dead things. I think it was all of the rain we had and it may be getting too much run off on the side of the house. :(
Staci,
Are the plants themselves looking okay? I have two bushes that I've had in pots for four years and they have bloomed beautifully until this year. They started looking dead so I cut the branches back, not knowing what else to do. When I saw the back side of the leaves I was shocked. There is some kind of white stuff solid all over the back of the leaves. I took pics and will try to post if I can get my wireless connection back on my laptop later today.
This message was edited Feb 24, 2005 2:27 PM
They are very finicky, but once you find the "right" spot for them, they are very little trouble, and a lot of pleasure.
Bummer, Staci! Probably not too late to save it and next winter have some flowers.
Believe it or not but the leaves, branches, etc look just fine. It did great all last year and even put on some growth in the heat of the summer so I figured I chose the spot well. The one I planted at my old house lost quite a few leaves in the summers and got pretty scrawny, but still put out at least a few blooms. I prepared the bed better with this one and It's on the northwestern side of the house though and has not gotten any direct sun for the last month. It may not be ever be drying out since then with as much rain as we have had. I think it may be Camellia flower blight.
Is that virus? Treatable?
It's a fungus. I read that the spores stay in soil for up to 5 years and they thrive on damp conditions. Only thing I can do is remove all spent blooms and the mulch and then use a fungicide soil drench to reduce the intensity of the disease.
Sounds like a good plan. Hope it works. I think I need to try a couple of camelias. In fact, instead of azaleas which only bloom for a couple weeks I'm thinking camelias. I especially like the red and the white camelias. Gives me some winter color, too.
Sounds like sweezel has the scoop here.
John, I had a bank of native large puple azaleas that I ripped out last year and replaced with crepe Myrtles. approx 100 days of bloom. The azaleas were replanted on a friend's estate.
They were 6' tall and made my house look dated.
Staci, I'm sorry your flowers didn't bloom. I don't have any secrets to share, because this is the only plant in my garden that did well. I don't know what I did right. My husband says that our soil acid. Maybe that's why it's blooming.
Can anybody tell me when I can expect my hostas to come back? If they're not going to, I need to plan for something else.
Jennifer-
It will be a while yet for the hostas to come back. Mine die all the way back, but when it warms up you will see little green furls coming out of the ground! Just give them some time. :)
I do throw my coffee grounds at my camellias feet often.
jdee, your hostas will arrive in about a month or so. I doubt you will have to make other plans in your Zone. They are still dormant right now.
I may loose mine because it doesn't get cold here for long.
Thank you. Maybe that wasn't a failure either. Wouldn't that be nice if it turned out that my first garden was ok after all? lol
I planted one hosta last year and it hasn't come back yet either. I guess we need to give them a little more time. Told ya' its not spring yet. :-)
You do keep telling me that don't you? :) I guess because I didn't plant in the fall, I'm doubly anxious.
;-)
The Hosta that was planted last spring will be even bettter than those planted in the fall.
Jen, I looked at my last year posts to the Hosta forum and had 4 of 12 poking through the dirt at the time of my March 20th post. I have not gone out back and checked on them yet this year though. You probably have at least a few weeks until you see them.
My hydrangea, rose, blueberries, and butterfly bushes show new growth. Nothing I can do about the weather or the early growth.
I'm surprised we dont have a camellia forum, being for years I have beenaware of camellia growers clubs in several towns, mostly membered by men.
There are several manipulations you can do with these plants to grow bigger, more perfect blooms.
I've been taught, but forgot all of it. I was just thrilled to have one that didn't drop all its buds like those above.
I planted about 4 hosta in the spring and another 9 this fall. The 4 stayed green well into December. The bareroot guys I planted this fall actually started coming up about that time. Then when we got a couple of good freezes they all died back. I am out there poking around everyday now (Spring Fever much?) and none of my hosta are coming up yet.
On that note, I am a little surprised that Park's sent my elephant ear collection I ordered this winter. 3 are bulbs, so that's fine. I can just hold onto them. But the other 3 are in 3 inch pots with growth on them. What the heck? I can't plant those yet! What am I supposed to do with them? Right now I have them in a sunny window with all my other large seedlings. I am hoping I can keep them like that until it's planting time. I just think it's odd to send those, of all plants, this early! Guess Park's is jumping the gun on spring too. :)
Jamie, your EEs should be fine in the house for now. I have had them in the house for up to a couple months. Just keep the soil fairly moist and spritz them to give them a little humidity. Don't keep the very top of the soil too soaked though or you might end up with gnats like I did.
John, my hydrangea also has growth. It has had new growth the last two years during a couple of inches of snow in February with no damage though. :)
I think a cold frame would be good for that sort of thing (and other reasons). I never seem to get one built. I don't know why!
John
Me too John. One idea...even putting a smaller pot in a big 2 gallon ziplock bag can help contain some heat.
Staci- I have gnats EVERYWHERE right now. Now that my brugmansia cuttings have gotten so big, I can soak them one night and they are bone dry the next. But I don't want to pot them up again b/c it's too close to outside planting time. But everything else is staying damp and I have gnats big time. I put my EEs with my seedlings b/c I DO mist that stuff regularly so I am just treating them the same way. I'm excited though- the black ones are the ones in pots and they look really cool! I LOVE the leaves on those... even better than the pictures.
