It sounds like you probably need a different variety that blooms earlier in the fall. I have "autumn spirit". It set blossoms in August and the pink blossoms are now just starting to open. This early fall bloomer is probably better in our northern zones. This variety is hardy to zone 6A.

Thank you very much. I'll see if I can get "autum spirit" when I go back to AL next week and I'll also try to find out what is the name of the one I have. I guess I'll just keep it as a bush and hope for mild winters. It is a shame because it is very healthy.

your camellia is not 'white-by-the-gate', is it? it is a solid white, formal-double flower form, usually blooms for me in mid-winter (dec-jan) and the flowers almost always are ruined by freezing weather in alabama.
i have never seen any of the cold-hardy cultivars offered for sale in garden centers here but they should be available in more northern nurseries.

I purchased my autumn spirit from Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill NC. I bought it on-line and had it shipped. I spoke with them first on the phone about a good selection for my climate. They were very helpful. The purchasing experience was handled very well and they seem like a very reliable company. Here is what they say about autumn spirit on their website:

This exceptional selection starts blooming very early in the season with some of the most intensely colored flowers of any of the cold hardy fall bloomers. Many bright deep pink petals make up the small to medium sized peony form flowers. This bushy plant has small deep green leaves and is a moderate to vigorous grower. (C. oleifera x C. sasanqua F2 segregate)

Zone 6A

A Camellia Forest Introduction.

If you like white, I know there are several fall blooming hybrids available. Camellia Forest is an excellent source. I have had "Snow Flurry" for over ten years and it has just opened it's first few flowers this week. I am in Rhode Island (zone 6b) and it usually manages to open at least 50% of it's buds before it gets too cold. Of course it depends on how the weather goes, but some years I've had flowers almost up until Christmas. Other years they're done before Thanksgiving. You don't say where you're located, but you do say zone 7 so I would think this variety would do well for you. It's not a show-stopper but it's a nice white informal double. Has a heavy bud count. Tends to grow more spreading than most, but I prune in early spring to keep it a little bushier. Totally hardy in zone 6 so should not be a problem for you.

Bill: I have 2 questions:

1) Do you know of any local nursery's that carry cold hardy camellias?
2) My autumn spirit is small--I bought a 1 year old plant cheap. When it arrived last spring, it had long wisps for branches. I pruned those back and planted. It didn't do much for 1-2 months, but then later in summer it experienced a growth spurt, with more long wispy branches. My question is how do I prune to develop a more bushy habit. Should I just keep pruning those new branches back? And it looks like the fall blooms develop on the old wood? Is that correct? Any help would be appreciated.

Rockman,

As far as local nurseries go, it seems to be hit or miss as to whether or not they will have any of these plants. There is probably a better chance in spring when they receive their orders from the wholesale growers. Briggs Nursery in Attleboro (http://www.briggsgarden.com/) may have them, and I got one at Forest Hills Nursery (http://www.fhninc.com/index.htm) in Cranston, RI. You might post on the New England Gardening forum to see if anyone knows of any others.

As for pruning, since "Autumn Spirit" has C. oleifera as one of it's parents, it may resemble my "Snow Flurry" in growth habit (i.e. spreading and a little "leggy"). You are right that they bloom on old wood, so pruning should be done using the "50/50" method. What I do is to prune back half of the branches one year, and the other half the next. That way you can control the overall size and promote some bushiness, but still have flowers every year. If your plant is still small, you might want to let it grow to a larger size before you start pruning. Good luck!

Friends, I have a similar problem. I have a Camellia Japonica in a large pot on a South facing balcony (but covered to give shade) in the South of France. I bought it three years ago. It looks healthy with lovely dark green leaves but each year the buds come out in profusion in October just as it's bginning to get colder, and then the buds start to drop in mid November. It is such a shame because there are hundreds of healthy looking buds but they stop growing when they are about 10mm long. The plant label says that the blooms will be red but I have never had a single bloom to verify this. This year I tried taking the plant indoors (15-21 degrees centigrade) as the weather got colder but the buds are still going brown and dropping. I have also tried feeding the plant this year with 'tree and shrub fertiliser'. Can anyone tell me how I can be successful in getting this plant to flower? Thank you.

James, it seems as if your camellia is too tender for your area and easily suffers from environmental stress, that is when temperature and/or humidity levels change.

Some camellias will react with bud drop when the temperature/humidity change a lot so, when bringing camellias indoors, I would suggest doing it when the exterior and interior temperature/humidity are similar so the plant does not into a form of transplant shock.

It is important to always maintain soil humidity levels as constant as you can. That is, try not to have dry soil conditions in between waterings. Or try not to have periods of wet soil either. To help with that, manually test the soil humidity by inserting a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" (10.2cm) and water the same amount of water when it feels almost dry or dry). Test daily for 1-2 weeks and make notes of how often you have to water the soil in a calendar. After 1-2 weeks, then review the results and plan on watering as often as your notes said you did (that is, water every 3/4/5/6/etc days).

Inside the home, the humidity should be similar to the ones that camellias are used to in their country of origin (think greenhouse-like levels). This is usually difficult to do (inside homes) during winter and in areas where air vents are close to the shrubs. You may need some form of humidifiers to help sometimes.

To make the buds open earlier, you can also use gibberellic acid. Camellia flower buds can be forced into blooming earlier following treatment with gibberellic acid say, in early Fall. See the link below.

Luis

Here is a link that might be useful: Gibbing Camellias Article by the V.C.S.

Luis, Many thanks for your advice.

For watering, I keep the plant in a 12" plastic pot which sits on the tray 2" from the bottom of a 14" self watering pot. My watering method is to keep 3" of water in the bottom of the self watering pot at all times so that the camellia pot is sitting in a 1" depth of water. However the camellia soil is about 9" deep so there is 8" of dry soil above the 1" of wet soil at the bottom. I never water from the top so this gives the pot a gradient of moisture from dry to wet over 8" of depth. I figure that the roots will be able to choose for themselves the best depth that gives them the moisture level that best suits them. This method also ensures that the air does not get too dry, because there is continuous evaporation coming up around the sides of the camellia pot. Please tell me if you think I could improve on this method, eg by watering from the top, or by allowing the bottom to dry out from time to time.

The gibbing idea is also interesting. I could try it next year. Is it easy to get gibberellic acid ?

James

James, perhaps you have to remember where you bought your camellia. Then try to get the name of your japonica. In your area of climate zone 9 a you'll have many chances to keep your camellias outside. They don't really like to overwinter inside, and selfwatering containers, well, I did very awful experiences with them for my camellias.

South facing balcony in the South of France? In my opinion it is too hot there for this japonica you have.

In your country you can contact camellia-sbc.com and receive very good advices.

Good luck!
tamararly

It's now mid December and -1 centigrade outside, but my camellia is nice and warm indoors (+18 centigrade) and I'm excited that it still has quite a few green buds left so I'm hoping that at least one of them might open. I've started watering occasionally from the top so maybe this is helping.
Tamararly, I remember I bought the camellia in Carrefour but the labels were not attached very well and could have got mixed up. So I chose the plant that looked the healthiest and picked up the most likely label. It could be a bit of pot luck as to exactly what I've got. The label is about 2"x3" with a lovely picture of a red flower and the words "Camellia Japonica". There are also numbers "61 83 71", and on the back some picture instructions to plant the camellia in a hole 40cm deep. There is also a small round symbol marked 06 and a code "0016TCEA0 floramedia". Please let me know if this contains clues to identify the plant. Otherwise I could go back and ask Carrefour, but I am not very hopeful that they will have records to help me.

Thanks again, James

Amazing! I have a first bud opening on 10th Feb !!! The colour is bright red. It looks like I may get about six more but all the rest (about 200) have browned or dropped long ago. The plant is still indoors (+18 centigrade) and I have been watering it carefully all winter. There are also signs of fresh spring growth - pointy buds about 1/2 inch long at the end of each stem and at many lower points also on the woody branches. I am over-joyed to have a flower at last, but is it normal for camelias to flower in February? There is snow on the ground outside the window (-2 centigrade).
PS. In May we are buying a house. Is it best to plant the camelia in the garden (North / South facing, shade / full sun ? ) or keep it in a pot ?