Camellia sansasqua

I am excited. About two months ago I got my first Camellia. I had seem them everywhere and always admired them, and out at a nursery one day I got me two. Today, I went to check on them and found to my delight my very first bloom. : ) Its not as spectacular as the double and semi double pinks and white, I saw going down the street, but it mine.

Don't remember which cultivar off hand. It red and this first bloom is single. Hope it puts out a double or two. The girl that sold it to me said the blooms made pretty arrangements floating in bowls of water.

Anybody else got Camellias in bloom? How about showing them pretty ladies off?

All of mine are Camellia japonica. They usually don't start blooming until later in the winter but they have plenty of buds.

Did you make sure to give yours partial shade? Full sun will scorch a camellia in the south.

I'm growing C. sasanqua in the arms of a White Pine. I'm not sure if the flower buds were killed outright by the wicked cold we had a week ago, but there seems to be some damage. I plan on looking at them closely tomorrow to see if they froze before they opened (again). Only one year in the past 3 have I had any flowers. My Camelia is also single and white (as is my sister), but since we have to grow them in a sheltered place anyway, (half hidden in the pine), a white flower stands out nicely from the dark pine background.

I have mine in a place that gets filter sun. The old hickory and oaks give it shade for of the day, but wil remember to watch come spring when the trees don't have their leaves to make sure it won't burn now that you suggested that.

Penn_Pete... I don't know if this wil help you or not. Was told that Camellias like acidic soil and that the major reason they don't flower is because people fertilize them causing foliage growth instead of blooms. Maybe feeding your somethign to lower the pH will bring on blooms.

Mulch with a layer of oak leaves and then cover that with pine needles to make them stay put. That will make it happy and it shouldn't need much fertilizer after that.

I've got a few of the cold hardy hybrids and one(Winter's Charm I think) started blooming about 2 weeks ago and is still blooming now. Although it doesn't seem to open up very many blooms at one time.

Hi starlight and all. I get flower buds, but this is a bit out of the range that makes Camelias happy. The tough ones are hardly hardy here, and many die before their first winter. Still, this should be warm enough, it's just that I'm 'blessed' with living in a cold spot. One friend less than a mile away sometimes has 2 extra weeks in the fall and spring because her farm is on a slight (very slight) rise.

I checked my buds today and one of them will probably open, the others are somewhat retarded and will likely perish if we get more sub-freezing temps.

We were in Brittany, France one year in March and the spring Camelias were blooming. The species with large flowers were most evident, pruned and posed, gracing farmyards and dooryards and making me vow to grow at least one. Even with only a few blooms that open, the plant is handsome.