The Camellia williamsii varieties are the best bet for more northern areas. I have "Donation" which is a light-medium pink and it flowers reliably as long as I remember to water it in a dry late summer/autumn. It was in a half barrel for many years until it fell apart, then I planted it in the ground a few years ago.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I had Donation too @JennyJ, and it was fine here. I don't like pale pink now though, so it rules it out for me. They're difficult in the weather here too, as we were mentioning on another thread yesterday. They get too easily damaged when they're in flower, unless you have the perfect site, and maybe a climber through them. I reluctantly decided I wouldn't bother with them in this garden. There's better performing shrubs.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We don't know whereabouts @norderhove is. She/he says the most of the garden is "too hot" which would maybe rule out being up north, unless it's a south-facing sheltered suntrap. Maybe the planters are wide but not deep enough for the long term. When I took mine out of it's knackered half-barrel (maybe 1.5 to 2 feet deep or so, I guess around half a metre in new money) it was more than a bit rootbound at the bottom although it hadn't stopped flowering. I think the roots wanted to go deeper.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Thinking about it now I haven't seen many camelias in gardens around here. Maybe they just don't do well. There's one enormous one I can think of in a west facing garden but I haven't noticed many more. My garden is diagonally between east and west with a 9 foot tall dry stone wall at the back and hit and miss fences either side that filter the wind through. We're on top of a hill so the wind barrels up the hill from the north west. The sun rises in one corner and moves across the big wall so 3/4 of the garden faces south and gets full sun nearer the house until about 3pm when it starts to go round the side of the house. The camelias are on the edge of the shade from the wall and sheltered by a bed of shrub roses so they don't get early morning sun or direct midday sun and the wind is filtered.
I bought 2 camelias 3 years ago, both in full flower, a mid pink. The second year they didn't flower and last year they started to look a bit sick so I transplanted them into the garden. They recovered and now look really good. I thought that perhaps they might never flower but just looking at them this morning I'm thinking they might have a couple of flower buds coming. What do you reckon?
I thought that perhaps they might never flower but just looking at them this morning I'm thinking they might have a couple of flower buds coming. What do you reckon?
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They're difficult in the weather here too, as we were mentioning on another thread yesterday. They get too easily damaged when they're in flower, unless you have the perfect site, and maybe a climber through them. I reluctantly decided I wouldn't bother with them in this garden. There's better performing shrubs.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...