How big is it? Do you have a garage or shed where you could put it that doesn't get too cold during cold snaps until it warms up a bit? I think what might damage them more is cold dry winds (which this cold snap is producing in many areas in the mid atlantic) rather than the actual cold.

I have grown camellias outdoors in the ground and in pots here since 1992. The first thing to consider is that some camellias are only hardy to 10' to 20'F. There are some species and cultivars that are hardy to -5' F. The less hardy ones I grow in pots and only bring them into the garage during the absolute coldest days of winter, other wise they are sheltered from the west and north winds by my house. During the summer, I take the potted ones into the backyard for partial sun and protection from the late western sun. I have had good luck planting the more hardier varieties on the north side of my house for partial sun. They are protected from the winter winds from my neighbors house just to the North.I also have one planted on the east side of a large pine tree that as done well. The winter winds here seem to dissicate the foliage too much if they have too much exposure.I have mostly planted in amended raised beds because of my poor draining clay soil. I don't like peat because once it dries its hard to get wet again, so I usually use Cotton burr dirt, compost, pine needles or fine pinebark as soil amendments. Bloom time varies, some of the species are fall blooming ( here its usually OCT/NOV), winter blooming, and some bloom in spring. I have the "April Series" from Camellia Forest Nursery and they bloom here March to May. Hope this helps. I would try to ID which varieties you have before I did anything with them. Phil

Can you let us know where you are located? Evergreen clems tend to be somewhat tender compared to the other types........usually just to zone 7 but can suffer some foliar damage and dieback in that zone so I consider them marginal. I don'y think that space is big enough. Clematis armandi gets much bigger than 20'....that is a pretty low estimate :-) And a vine that produces that much top growth also has a sizeable root system so as long as it has sufficient soil depth and you can allow it to spread its roots sideways, you might get it planted in that narrow bed but it will grow well over the top of the fence (or carefully trained along the top), but it will cascade over onto your neighbor's side as well. This is a no-prune type. You can prune it back immediately after it blooms but doing that consistently will reduce flowering. And it flowers very early - end of March in my climate - so not much worry about bees when you are sitting out on your patio :-)) The camellia might be a better fit.

I'm going to contact houzz with a recommendation (surely to be ignored) about making some kind of reminder appear for new posters, saying they should state their part of the country. Far too much time is wasted dealing with that, each time a n00b comes along. Back in 2008 I was asked to help someone create a lawn care forum. The very first contribution I made was to have a mandatory field for registration asking where they live. There are people who don't get it at first and put in "midwest" or something equally vague. Once we explain it to them, they all give us a city and state. The ones that get me say SoCal. Well...that reaches from Bakersfield to San Diego from Santa Barbara to Blythe. It goes from 50 feet below sea level to 10,000 feet with hills and mountains all over. Just saying SoCal is meaningless. Even saying Los Angeles is meaningless, because nobody really lives in Los Angeles. Santa Monica and Long beach are much different from Pasadena or Pomona.