Camelia

[primula]

Hello

Could someone please tell me what to do with my Camelia plant, which has been planted in our garden now for several years. However, due to the severe winter conditions this year, it has lost all its leaves. Should I prune it, and if so how?

Thanks, in advance to all who answer.

primula

[AlBags]

Hi
I think you may have to face facts. I have never seen a Camelia do this.
Mine is fan trained to a wall in a sheltered aspect and fully in flower right now. Full double pink.
You must miss it. Sorry.

[tillyh345]

Hi albags, sorry to hijack but u seem to know about camelias, when is a good time to transfer from a pot into the ground, Its quite large stands taller than me, so dont want to risk losing it.....

[AlBags]

Hi .. no worries ...

My Camelia I was talking about (in full flower now) was moved with as big a rootball as possible, and watered well into its new place several years ago. It was 4 feet fan-trained at the time. It's now around 8 feet. I moved it in late spring after flowering. This seems the best time to trim or move. Just keep a good rootball if possible. Prepare soil mixed well with Ericaceous , and add a few large iron nails in the top area of rootball. That's an old trick, but will keep Hydrangeas blue!
Camelias won't flower well the year following heavy trimming, so keep trimming to minimum or do gradually.
Hope that helps! : )

[tillyh345]

Fantastic Albags thank you x

[AlBags]

No probs : )

[carlton23]

A good tip now is to give all ericaceous plants a watering with 1 cup of White vinegar to a gallon of water to make them really healthy. If you have Alkaline soil it helps to neutralise soil also.

[AlBags]

Why not use the proper stuff .. Sequestered Iron .. .and mulch with Ericaceous? ... or place a small pile of large iron nails on surface above plant. (Cos it will do the same thing!)

[boxtops]

My camella is flowering profusely at the moment so I think yours has gone, sorry primula.

Tilly mine lives in a large pot as we have a patio garden, we report it every couple of years when it has finished flowering. Also as it finishes we give it a handful of speciialist granules which you scatter on the surface (sorry I don't know the name, the tub is in the shed at the other end of the gaden!). We prune it lightly during the summer if odd branches seem to be going their own way.

[AlBags]

My mother counted mine yesterday .... over 140 on the plant in flower ... about 30 dropped now!

[carlton23]

Albags, your suggestions are too expensive and rusty nails can take years to work, not only that `Health and Safety`???? .....Ever had a rusty nail stick in your finger? nasty.

[AlBags]

What you talking about? Gardeners have been using these ideas for decades!
Big nails, I said ... like 6" nails! Get one in your finger? .. yep ... right.
Don't try to bring Health and Safety into it ... otherwise we will have thornless roses, crap lawnmowers, and nothing that can be remotely described as poisonous growing in our gardens.

[boxtops]

My dad had rusty horseshoes planted under his hydrangeas.

[boxtops]

I don't understand what carlton thinks is expensive in albags' suggestions? Plant food is not dear, and bits of rusy metal are not hard to find (if you don't like the metal then sequestered iron comes in ?liquids and granules). One tub of the beads I use lasts for three or four years.

[AlBags]

Yes .. any iron junk, really!
Sequestered Iron I suppose, is a bit dear ... like all chemicals now.
But if you want the best flowers and the finest foliage .. that's the stuff.
Miracle Grow Ericaceous is not bad, either! : )

[tamborine]

Its is too windy a position...move it to a sheltered sunny spot, preferably against a wall.