Yep, they should do fine. Howdy neighbor!...I'm just down the interstate 20 in Tyler! I've dug up EEs before in spring/early summer and left them in buckets with little soil/water for over a week before transplanting, just left them out of direct sunlight and they did well after replanting...those things are tough! Just be sure to water well :)

Congrats on the new shrub and the quick delivery! I have some Professor Sargents, Taylor's Perfection, Yuletide, White by the Gate and Winter's Charm. But now I am thinking something is missing so I may need to refill my coffee cup with decaf and see if I fall asleep and dream of what needs to be tweaked on that list! Had Kanjiro but the pooches killed it. I need a bit of a pick me up after the dogs were giving their legs a lick/bath at 3am in the morning. Sigh. Coffee, coffee, coffee.. This fake scenario would really help right now: pretend you hear the sound of dialing on a phone... Hello? Starbuck's home delivery service for coffeeaholics. What can we teleport immediately to your home? Same thing as earlier this morning?" Hee hee hee. I too would not worry if I get bud drop or just no blooms on the first season of a new plant. They should then use the time to go semi-dormant or for root growth. I do not worry either with roses and hydrangeas although the advantage of getting/seeing the open blooms is that I can confirm that the bush is really what I wanted to buy. With no open blooms, one camellia is identical to any other. I have had some mislabeled roses and hydrangeas from local sources and am now a tiny bit reluctant to buy these two plants locally before I see them blooming. I typically do not add much to the soil when planting them. If they come with those round fertilizer pellets then that will last until Spring for sure. This time of the year, they go semi dormant while blooming so when I fertilize, I use a zero or low nitrogen fertilizer. Most times, I only fertilize in Spring only. Then I let the mulch degrade and provide food as it decomposes thru the rest of the year. I tried to follow the ACS Fert. Recommendations below but these shrubs grow so slowly that I reverted to a minimalist approach as I could not see much difference. I do add wormcastings and water with liquid seaweed when planting new shrubs. Plan on fertilizing in Spring about 2 weeks after your average date of last frost. https://www.americancamellias.com/care-culture-resources/general-culture-requirements/camellia-fertilization Post bloom pics when you get some!

Everywhere sells those buckets, kmart, walmart, I was in a big lots the other day and they had them too. I used to work at kmart a long time ago and we kept them in the automotive section. A lot of college kids use them to fill with ice and put a keg in, so maybe even big liquor stores. They are very popular in the summer. Here is the first supplier I stumbled across: Big Buckets Don't pay $17.50 though I bough one for 5 dollars at a Big Lots last year.

If a bunch of you people want something like this, it is better to find someone in Florida that will ship after the weather warms up. The Florida based "Plantfinder" has their own website with listings of plants, then all you need is someone who would ship them up. US mail allows up to 108 inches for the dimesions of boxes so you can get good sized plants shipped for a not so bad price compared to what it would cost to buy them in a nursery up north. Someone could probably ship 3 or 4, 7 gallon needle palms with the soil taken off for about $35 plus the cost of the plants. I keep my hard copy right next to my computer, I am seeing about 5 people with 7 gallons that are around 24 inches, and prices are about $45 each, wholesale for Rh.