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Early flowering camellias

Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
in Plants
My early flowering camellias are the best they have been since I bought them 5 years ago. I chose three that are supposed to have fragrance. If a very slight musky scent counts, 2 of them qualify but one has nothing that I can detect. They are with my nerines which are flowering so a lovely patch of colour at this time of year.
Sadly the flowers are very vulnerable to the wind and rain that we have every autumn down here in Cornwall. 

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I had white ones but every year the buds would be brown before they were open,  we dug them out eventually.  The red ones are not to bad but flower after Christmas,  usually a bit dryer then.  Never noticed a smell on any of them. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Mine are all white plus a 4th which is a single pale pink. It seems far hardier than the whites as it flowers every year despite being neglected.
    The pink one is special to me as a friend gave it to me as a goodbye present when I moved house. It was very sickly, found in the hospital corner of a local GC. My friend did not have a lot of money to spare. She asked one of the staff what was wrong with the plant and was told it was probably a virus infection. She decided I was just the person to look after it so bought it.
    All it needed was a repot, a good drink and a cool shady corner. It has flowered every year since.
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    I had the rather hilarious effect of buying a slodgy pink variety in the spring only to have it flower first a pure red (which horrified me 🤣) and then it flowered the expected pink colour. Clearly somebody stuck in the pot two different varieties when propagating them. Got to like the mad combination...hope my next garden will have more acidic soil so I can plant it in the ground and keep the mad two colour effect for years to come. 






    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Could be a reverted shoot.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    No, they are clearly two cuttings in the same pot. As they flowered a couple of weeks apart too. They're both full of juicy buds, looking forward to the weird show once more 🤣
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    They look beautiful juxtaposed.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Camellias are known for throwing sports when two different coloured flowers develop on the same branch. One of my white flowers has a few tiny flecks of deep pink scattered around on the petals, not enough to bother me.
    It is a shame camellias suffer so easily from wind and rain damage.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited October 2023
    September/October flowering with slight scent. probably Camellia sansanqua.

    Statring in December:  probably Camellia Japonica.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    My 3 are named sasquana varieties. Will have to try and find the labels.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I have a deep red single flowered camellia, I think it's called Crimson King which sometimes flower in Nov/Dec which we bought from the Edgecumbe estate near Plymouth.

    I really wanted the pink one called November Charm but that was out of stock.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
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