Camellia Species

I'm very impressed with my small plant so far. I planted it last spring, and it sailed through a winter that included an overnight low o...Read Moref -8F. I lost several other camellias that I planted at the same time. Many of my established camellias suffered some damage, but this new plant was completely unharmed. The overnight low was brief, and the daytime temperature was back into the upper twenties/low thirties. Still bitter, but not prolonged, and without any wind.

This is truly a tough Camellia, proving just as hardy as C. Oleifera which I had planted nearby.

Planted in the Fall of 20...Read More15, my young Camellia Chekiangoleosa was bought from Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel HIll, NC but planted at my home in beautiful SE Ohio. I was encouraged to try it outside by the nursery owner, David, who said other gardeners had had good results with it in my zone 6. I was looking for a taller-growing camellia with the largest leaves & David said C. Chekiangoleosa is definitely that.

Over the course of the Winter the one lonely 24" tall seedling survived heroically. Leaves did show a superficial bronzing but considering it was planted in a totally exposed area it was miraculous that that was all the stress it showed.

During the coldest days this last Winter we did drop below zeroF several times & if that weren't enough, several white-tailed deer jumped the fence into my 2-acre garden compound & ate several branch-tips & leaves off my little C. Chekiangoleosa. Locals generally consider this 2015 into 2016 Winter as the second or third worst in recent memory.

Now, in May 2016, the seedling is facing our 17-year awakening of the cicadas.....but I have wrapped its fragile trunk. All buds have survived the Winter & new leaves are forming now.....the last leaves from last year having also fallen off this May, having been bronzed but still green all the way to May.

I've been so impressed by how well it's done that I invested in a large quantity of C. Chekiangoleosa seeds from CamForest (that have already produced robust sprouts) to be planted, in time, over my 264 acres where numerous micro-climates exist on steep hillsides & the Leeward side. I can't have too many Camellia Chekianoleosa, a new favorite.

This plant was only recently introduced in cultivation in USA, and after its first trials under low temperatures, it showed special resis...Read Moretence, with little damages, and even a few flowers after it.

According to a website, this chinese species is closely related to the most popular Camellia japonica, but - to my own surprise - it has bigger flowers, with a touch of orange on the red petals, and a wide brush of yellow stamens. It starts blooming in late winter, and continues until mid spring.