Holleygarden,
You have a japonica, your Professor, and a susanqua, your Kanjiro.
Japonicas are the most popular camellias. They need part shade, and at your zone 8, means they will get sunburned in the hot summer sun. Morning sun, afternoon shade. THey are like gardenias as far as root rot, they ARE prone to it, which means you have to make sure your clay soil drains well for the camellia. Mulch after planting, I use pine mulch they love that, and DONT plant too deep.
Your Kanjiro is a sasanqua camellia. They are more compact, more resistant to root rot and can tolerate more sun, wind, and poorer soils. BUT in your zone, don't plant it in a full sun location, it should be fine planted with a little relief from the summer sun in afternoon.
Sasanqua's are the camellias that are used for espaliered displays in front of walls and fences.
They both like acidic fertilizer in fall. (Mir-Acid).
They are not heavy feeders. A good all around fertilizer every couple of years also is fine.
Northern exposure, filtered tree shade is ideal for them.
One of my Japonica's is planted under tall pines out back and one is planted in front of my house.(next to house but not too close)
They aren't really fast growers, so don't worry about pruning til they get too big. Of course you would prune off dead pieces, other than that don't worry about that for a while.
Don't forget to WATER your camellias if you have no rain for more than 10-14 days. EVEN in winter. They don't like to dry out totally, so water even in winter after dry spell.
Congrads on your new camellias and welcome to the addiction!!! LOL.

Thank you, butterfly4u, I really appreciate the information. Finding the right location is my main concern right now. The front of my home faces south/west, and there are a couple of pockets that have almost no sun, but those places are not big enough for these plants at maturity.

So, I'm looking at the back of my home (north/east), but want to be able to see these plants from a window. Also, the soil in the back is not amended like in the front.

How long do you think I can keep these camillias inside before planting? I read somewhere it's best not to plant them while in bud or bloom (?), and they both are right now.

These plants are quite sentimental to me (given to me as a remembrance for a recent death), so I want to make sure I plant them in a good place. How I wish someone could walk around my yard and tell me 'here is where they will be happy'!

I have azaleas and hydrangeas. The hydrangeas can tolerate more shade; the azaleas like a little more sun to bloom. As far as camillias, do you think they would prefer a location like a hydrangea or an azalea? (Relating them to plants I know will help me find a suitable location.)

Thanks again for any additional help. Although I garden and have other plants, because I have never had camillias and these are so special to me, makes me a little nervous.

Holleygarden,
They are like hydrangeas, as far as sun is concerned.
They don't grow as fast though.
DOn't keep them in the house in winter.Camellias hate dry heat. You don't have to anyway, You are in zone 8.
Plant them out as soon as you can. When you plant them, not too deep, and use pine mulch if you can find some.
Camellias are not heavy feeders, so just give them a good all purpose fertilizer in the spring.
Good Luck and sorry to hear of a recent death.
Hope you are OK over the holidays.
Your camellias will be fine.

You are most fortunate to live in Texas where you should be able, with a bit of searching, to find an organic product called Back to Nature-Cotton Burr Compost. It is produced in your state and how I wish nurseries all over the country carried it for acid loving plants. It is the best mulch to use on Camellias as it helps to break down clay soils and provides all the needed nutrients. From my experience using it on a large landscaping project with clay/gumbo soil where nothing would grow I urge you to locate it and apply it as a mulch yearly. Also excellent on sandy soils.

butterfly4u - again, thank you for the information.

I'm thinking about putting the Kanjiro in one of the pockets at the front of my home (beside my front porch). Currently, I have a couple of gardenias and a hydrangea there and they do well. I have a wall fountain that is broken and I think if DH will move that out, the camillia can be planted there. It only gets about 1-2 hours of sun/day there, and the soil is fine.

I also think that perhaps I could espalier it against the wall - I love the idea of that.

I'm having a problem finding the right place for the 'Professor'. I have a choice of two places. There is a spot at the end of my driveway that is fairly shady (pine trees on west side), but gets some south sun there. I had a couple of hydrangeas there, but they died from my lack of watering them, so I am not certain the sun situation is exactly right. (I would make sure it got watered.) The dirt there is good on top, but probably rocky underneath - it used to be where I composted. The big question is whether the south sun would shine too brightly there. It's also not a place that I could see from an inside window, but would see it every time I drove up.

Or - I could put it on the east side, but I would have to move a Lady Banks rose that I have planted there now. (it's not large - just planted last year) I think it would not get afternoon sun there, but am wondering if sun until afternoon is ok? The soil is ok, and the watering system reaches that bed. Unfortunately, you can not see that side of the house from a window, so the blooms in winter may be mostly missed. That is why I think I'd rather have it at the end of the drive.

nandina - thanks for the info. I have had a hard time trying to get this clay soil in good condition, but have succeeded in a few places. There is an organic gardening shop close to where I live, so I will go there tomorrow and see if they have that.

Any opinions on which place to put the 'Professor' would be appreciated. Or even about the 'Kanjiro'. For various reasons, I will probably plant them in another week. I am making sure they don't dry out.

Your expertise is greatly appreciated. Because of the sentiment attached, it would break my heart to lose either of these camillias.

Well, after all that, things have changed. When I told DH where I planned to put 'Professor', he said he was claiming that spot for future parking sheds.

So, now I am considering putting 'Kanjiro' in a shady spot under a window and 'Professor' in the pocket where I had planned to put 'Kanjiro' - removing the wall fountain.

The only problem is the mature size of 'Professor' is going to end up being way too large for this space.

So, my questions are:
1) how long does it take a camillia to reach it's mature size? If I wanted 'Professor' to only reach 10' instead of 20', would that be a difficult/ugly proposition?

2) Could I possibly espalier 'Professor' to the brick wall? Butterfly4u said that most of the time sasanquas are the ones espaliered, but why is that?

Again, I appreciate any opionions/advice to the placement of these camillias.

Just so you know the Kanjiro is not a sasanqua - it is of a different specias of camellia-C. hiemalis species .

Mature size is a commercial term used to indicate about hall tall a plant will be in 10 years. It does not mean that the plant stops growing in 10 years. A well cared for camellia that is planted in a location where it can thrive can exceed 400 years of age and become a huge tree.

Pruning the top (when it reaches your desired height limit)can be done to keep the bush in check. This may take a while though since camellias grow slowly, sometimes very slowly. Some of the ones that I have grow just inches a year!

I suggest that you should visit the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden to see how they grow camellias in the Vance Burks Memorial Camellia Garden. It may give you some ideas regarding the placement. I think that there are also camellias in the Stephen F. Austin State University Azalea Garden as well.

Feel free to espalier the Prof but provide some form of support. Attach screw eyes to allow wire to be strung across. As the branches grow, secure them to the wire, in a stretched out appearance. Just as you would espalier roses, say.

I too have read that most sasanqua varieties are suitable for espalier-ing, although any camellia -in theory- can be trained as an espalier. It is probably just a matter of difficulty. To minimize the work, you want to look for those shrubs that have a single trunk and have thin/flexible side growths that are easy to tie in. Japonica stems may not be as flexible to tie as sasanqua stems, which means you have to monitor them and tie them while very young and pliable. So it is not impossible but it may be a chore some times.

Luis

Dawgone, thank you for the information. I know so litte, it doesn't mean much to me now, but probably will as I get more into growing these beautiful plants. :)

Luis - thank you so much! I have never noticed the camillias at the Tyler Rose Garden - I mostly have just been to look at the roses. I will make a trip next week to look at them!

I still haven't planted my camillias. It has been rainy and cool, but not freezing, so they are outside, but still in their pots.

The saga continues.... I think I have found a different place for Kanjiro, morning sun, afternoon shade, more room to grow, but will get a little more wind there.

The Professor I'm really having a problem placing. The wall I had been thinking of espaliering (sp?) it to is only 8'x8', and I plan to be in this home until I die, so hopefully I have another 20-40 years left here. I don't want to have to fight it for 10-30 years! The problem is my site is mostly sunny. We do have pines, but they are planted to harvest, and as DH pointed out, when they get harvested, the people coming to cut them down won't care about my camillia.

So...do you think I could plant some plants (trees) around it at the same time I plant it? I assume it would grow slower than any trees I could plant around it, and that way I could design a place specifically for it. Does that seem feasible?

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I know I need to get these planted, but am reluctant to put them somewhere they will not thrive.