Hello Florence. Thanks for your advice. I read the article "New York Times" on Camellia in Louisiana. My congratulations. It's a great satisfaction to see an article on camellias in a newspaper as important and known in the world. I also congratulate you and the fans who work to protect the Camellias and ancient gardens. To me, I love old camellias and I like to try to achieve their identification. In 2010, during a visit to Portugal with other members of the Spanish Camellia Society, identified an ancient variety. The "Formosa de Young" symns."Young's Formosa", "Formosa Youngii", cultivar of English origin in the mid-nineteenth century. Experts have recognized Areeiro SF. I like knowing that many other people in the world have the same passion I have. I hope to achieve save camellias Island Tabasco Peppers. Receive my warm greetings. Daniel D.F. oKintos Camellia japonica "Formosa de Young" Here is a link that might be useful: New York Times article camellias

Gabriella, I have this same plant about the same age. It has always had rapid growth for me too. But I realized early on it responds extremely well to pruning. I pruned I would say drastically every year. Mine is standing straight up with the great new willow like growth very strong and already hardened off. Mine is facing south full sun over half the day. It looks like yours is in more shade. The sansanquas can take lots more sun. In a few weeks I will give mine a light pruning because it will soon put on another flush of growth. I prune this one 3 times through the summer. I think You may have to stake some of the major branches use strong sturdy stakes, I would prune out the weakest branches maybe leave 5 major trunks, but still prune them all shorter. This plant will quickly recover from pruning. Mine is over six feet and if I didn't prune it it would be no less than 10 feet. I hope this helped you some James in Florida

I notice that you are both concentrating on watering. Is this the cause of flowers and buds turning brown and falling off and leaves turning brown? I am new at this so please forgive my foolish questions. I respect your experience. The house is shaped like an L-shape. The camellia bed is in the inside corner of the L, with the bed facing north east. The plants are fertilized once a month with a regular fertilizer and are due about now. I hope to change to an acid fertilizer. I don't think I can count on winter rain being enough here in San Diego except maybe this past year. The drainage is a problem, since the property is inclined down toward the camellia bed from all directions. I suppose from your input that it could be the total cause of my problem. I can't figure out how to improve the drainage and neither have contractors come up with a solution. There doesn't appear to be an access for drainage downstream of the bed since it narrows significantly in that direction. Prior to modifying the camelia bed, adding mulch and changing to drip irrigation, I could readily see that the bed was always very wet with patches of moss on the surface. I could see that the soil was extremely wet and I often shut off the irrigation for long periods of time to help dry it out. Maybe I had better shut it off again. Being 82 years old and handicapped in a wheelchair I cannot readily dig down to sample the soil. Would you recommend that I brush away patches of mulch so I can see the soil and use my moisture meter attached to a stick? Perhaps gardening takes more effort than I can give it but I love my plants and will try anything.

I have been going to Logee's since the late 60's. They used to have even more rare and unusual things, when Joy Logee Martin ran the place. I had a small greenhouse then, so it was an incredible source. Prices were good too. But in the last several years, it's gotten so much more commercial, and they offer only about half of what they used to have. The prices are quite high for the size of the plants, But I'm sure this has arisen out of necessity, with higher costs of running a business nowadays. As for the camellias there, they do offer a couple of hardy ones, but you get a very small, rooted cutting for a fairly high price. What you get from Camforest or some other online nurseries, even with shipping, are much more established plants. I don't know if you've considered the fall flowering types, but they are quite hardy too, and bloom when little else is blooming. Good luck with whatever you choose. Monrovia offer a few hardy types also, and they will now ship to local garden centers at no charge! You pay them online and pick up at your local nursery. I know they ship to Forest Hills Nursery in Cranston. I have a couple of things on order that I will pick up probably in April. Not a bad deal.