>My large (dying) camellia is Marie Bracey. (japonica). When I planted it, I planted it according to the nursery instructions, which were to dig a large hole and amend the soil with half camellia/azalia soil mix and half of the existing clay. Usually my local nursery is pretty good about plants... but I know they can't possibly know about every plant. That sounds really good to me, depending on what the camellia/azalea soil mix contains. At any rate, I'd seriously doubt that your soil mix is the basic problem. If the plant hasn't been watered, that's almost surely the problem, or a large part of it. (A stressed plant is more likely to come down with extra new problems too.) We have 6 Marie Braceys (aka Spellbound) here! We kind of like that variety, I guess you might say. :D Two were large blooming plants new this winter. Three are about 7 years old and planted in far too much shade. They were very slow to get going from their original 1 or 2 gallon size but still are exceptionally healthy without any disease problems at all that I've noticed. They just began to bloom this year. And one has been planted maybe 18-20 years and is quite large and bushy, even though it is not ideally sited (less than ideal amounts of sunlight and competing with too many tree roots for moisture). This long-planted large camellia has survived all droughts without enough water, while some azaleas and rhododendrons right next to it died from the lack of water. So Marie Bracey can for sure send its roots pretty deeply to make it through less than ideal rainfall/watering, but I'd guess that to have that happen takes either some luck with when heavy rain finally does fall--just in time--or a good watering strategy for encouraging deep roots. Just in time heavy rainfall is what must have happened here over several successive rainfalls. You can make use of a similar strategy with your own watering scheme by giving it successively slightly longer time spans between watering and making sure to water very deeply when you do water, so that as the water level falls, the roots are encouraged to grow deeper and deeper to get the moisture that's there. Yours didn't quite get either kind of treatment, so its roots weren't deep into the soil and prepared for the long drought you accidentally gave it. It's likely a protective measure that your Marie Bracey has gone through recently to stop sending its scarce moisture to all branches, but just sending necessary moisture to some branches in an effort to keep some parts of the plant alive--a better thing than having the whole thing die at once. You might look at it this way... The plant succeeded in what it was trying to do if any branches at all are still alive now. Hurrah! Just trim off those branches that died, and water the plant regularly and very well for a very long while to give it a chance to regain its strength, send out more roots, and look like a robust, leafy, healthy plant again. Eventually it would be a good idea to try the less-frequent deep watering strategy, though. Maybe wait until next spring or even the following spring to do that, depending on how long it takes for a full recovery? When you do get around to trying this, the roots will grow deeper looking for moisture and it ought to be better prepared to get through the summer heat with enough moisture to have a good bud set then. (It's amazingly how much better the bud set is when a camellia gets plenty of moisture when it is trying to set buds!) Marie Bracey is an old variety that has stood the test of time. We've never had any problems of any kind with ours, and they have been mostly completely neglected. Once yours gets back to adequate moisture, it ought to recover unless it's really too far gone. Only time will tell on that, but it's such a healthy variety overall it's certainly worth giving it every chance now. >I'm sure I need to do something to amend the ph some... I wonder if it would be better if it was planted a bit higher, in a berm or something. The other smaller camellia (Kramers Supreme Camellia) is near a drain, so I think it gets pretty good drainage there (and it's doing better than it's larger friend) Berms are great, and they look wonderful too, adding a three-dimensional effect. For future landscape planning, that's a great strategy, and makes your yard much more interesting to look at. I wouldn't rush to do anything about PH without getting a soil test done first, now that you know you've gotten a problem from the lack of water. Your PH might well need a little adjusting, but since you don't have other camellias dying in the same soil, there seems to be no big rush on perfecting PH. >Should I wait to see if the camellia recovers? Well, you know the old saying: "Don't fix what ain't broke!" Yes, wait! Just water. Don't fertilize. Don't spray anything near the plant, don't do anything except giving it water. If you have an easy way to provide a bit more dappled shade to some of the plant--a potted tree on its south side perhaps?--that wouldn't hurt either. If it were my plant, I'd give it until next March or April to show good signs of recovery before yanking it, unless its position is so prominent in your yard that you need that spot to look good again really soon. You might eventually decide to relocate the plant or to raise it some within the planting hole--or decide not to. Just make sure that the plant has recovered first before giving it any new stresses to have to weather; it has lost some or potentially most of its roots now to the lack of water and recovery is going to take a good bit of time. >what would IDEAL planting situation be? (ie what kind of soil amendments?) I don't really know the answer to that, and I'm not sure anyone does. So much depends on what kind of soil you are dealing with to begin with. Your county extension agent might have an idea about that for your area. (Or not. It might depend on what kind of plants he/she knows best?) It also depends on what components you have available in your area for a reasonable price, and what suits you. There is no single formula that is necessary for success. The general keys pointing toward the potential for good results with camellias, I think, are the combination's overall ability to drain reasonably well while holding a reasonable amount of moisture that still does have some aeration, the combination's overall acidity, and its overall proportion of organic materials (improves the chances for the first three, plus makes for lots of benefical soil microorganisms). If you are curious as to what we do here, well... We buy a truckload of sandy loam soil here every now and then so we usually have that available to use for amending our hard clay into something more crumbly but that will still hold itself into a clump if you squeeze on it. We use a fair amount of sandy loam in a clay mixture that is heavy on organics. We also have composted leaves in abundance to use and we use them abundantly. And at times we get free delivered hardwood mulching materials, so we mix in a fair amount of that too. Sometimes pine needles and pine bark. Plus we scoop lots of fresh hardwood leaves into the mix (helps to hold the soil in place for heavy rains, including on our berms). And usually we add some cottonseed meal and sphagnum peat moss too. Often we push in some leafy twigs as a final step after the camellia is planted to help hold the soil and those break down very gradually and nicely. We don't throw in the kitchen sink, but almost. ;) We use some cow poo, alfalfa, and bonemeal with the roses, but not with camellias. If you want to use manure or very much bonemeal with camellias, be sure to do things to adjust the PH downward some because very much of that will likely raise the PH to something that's too high. We also have some greensand, but haven't gotten around to using that except on the roses (and not much there either). You might well have good luck with fewer organics than we use, but we've had good luck with what we do and are likely to keep doing it. We never use commercial fertilizers of any kind anywhere in a planting hole or after a plant is planted. (Nor do we spray any inorganic chemicals of any kind. Camellias don't need themit to thrive and they all usually look somewhere between fabulously healthy to pretty good overall, even if they are not absolutely perfectly disease-free.) For fertilizing after planting, we use cottonseed meal, along with hardwood mulching and leaves that keep getting new layers added on top each year as the old layer decomposes. We also have two Kramer's Supremes, another old favorite variety. One is a well-established plant (planted at the same time as the oldest Marie Bracey and far too close to a tree) that has never had any problems at all, but hasn't bloomed well until this spring--when it went wild! And was wildly beautiful! (Last summer it had lots of rainfall when trying to make buds.) This variety grows more upright than Marie Bracey does but is also a very beautiful plant. It gets huge pretty quickly. We also bought one more (large, 7-gallon) Kramer's Supreme last winter and it's sited in a much better spot, with adequate sunlight and no tree root competition. I can't wait to see what it looks like in future years there. You are going to like this variety too. I always hope for fragrance and it does have a bit, but it's fairly faint. With as many camellias as you already do have growing successfully, you have more experience with camellias than I was assuming when writing earlier. I'd guess that you weren't even close to giving up on camellias, and probably thought my post a bit funny! Anyway, consider yourself REALLY encouraged now! :D Fingers crossed here that your Marie Bracey makes it. It's easy to see why it's also called "Spellbound" as its blooms are so breathtakingly beautiful. But if this one is too far gone, don't hestitate to replace it with another of the same variety. It's a great variety that you'll love having in many good growing years ahead. Best wishes, Mary

I checked the box this afternoon and there is a almost built nest--yah This will be the latest we have ever had a nesting in our boxes. Mom and Dad also brought 3 of the babies onto the electric lines that are over the meal worm dish and one of the babies came down and sat for a feeding. I hope the other two are around, as there was 5 of them. Connie

Well Amcf, If you're crazy then I'm right in there w/ ya. I'd thought the same abt nice striped cotton pants which had worn out at the thighs. They're washed, pressed & wating for a project. I have no hubby to account to so I can do whatever I want. I once bought a size 8 sundress (not a size I ever fit) from a thrift shop 'cause it was made of 3 different indigo & white batiks, was GORGEOUS! Right front bodice was one, left front bodice another, back bodice a third & the skirt repeated one of the front bodices. I made a sampler to teach myself Flying Geese, made 3 columns, sashed w/ indigo solid, all on a white ground w/ binding of one of the other patterns. Cost me $5 or 10, was great! Can you go buy a duplicate pair, wear one & quilt the other? Otherwise, maybe cut them down to sort shorts (w/ which to entice him) & make quilts from the legs? See -- told ya you're not alone!

I can not even begin to imagine what you are feeling. Just the thought breaks my heart, brings tears to my eyes and makes me feel almost like I am suffocating. My Mother In Law lost her oldest son a few years before I met their family. Its been about 25 years ago now that he died. While most of the time, she does well and can talk about him just fine, a few months ago she had a really bad day. My Step mom lost her only son several years ago. Just a few months ago she said, "I have taken myself off of my anti-depressants." His birthday was last Thursday. She took the day off of work. Its only been a few short months for you. Bless your heart. ((((Jamie))))