Looks to be in the Proteaceae family, maybe a native of Australia or South africa, teasingly familiar but I can't place it yet

you posted on the rather dead gallery side... try the same on the DISCUSSIONS side.. if you havent already ken

It needs more moisture. Camellias like contant moisture, not dry nor wet. Many of the roots are in the top few inches so you want to feel moisture at depth of 4" or so, not at 10". Insert a finger to a depth of 4" and see how it feels. If it feels wet, take no action. If it feels moist, do the same. If it feels dry or almost dry then water. Put about 3-4" of mulch and keep the pot away from windy areas. Test with the finger method daily for about two weeks. Every time that you water, make a note on a wall calendar. After two weeks, observe how often you are watering (every 2/3/4/etc days). Then make a habit to water on that same frequency. If the temps change more than 10 degrees and stay there, use the finger method again. Lack of moisture will cause the plant to drop the flower buds.

So I snipped off all the curled stuff so that I could monitor further damage. I took a look at the undersides of the remaining leaves and almost all had some white stuff on them. I decided to try my macro setting of my camera. This is the normal view of "white gunk": This is a close up macro with cropping. Lo and behold, it does have an aphid-ness to it. are those aphid skins??? that's a new one. No more aphid predators seen. No BT around. I sprayed with Neem Oil insecticidal soap. we'll see. I never would have thought aphids. I've never seen them like that. Always alive and sucking in a much more open way. (like the red ones I just found covering every single stem and many leaves of mature huge triple clumps of heliopsis. I have never seen an infestation that bad. Must be the year of the aphid in my yard!)