Marty, it just means that the flower bud was chemically altered using gibberellic acid. I never knew such could be done until I joined my local camellia club back in January of this year. Our first club meeting for the 2014/2015 season took place back in August and they gave all the members a small vial of the solution. What you do,is take a flower bud and remove the growth point from beside it (this would be your new leaf growth point) using a syringe or something of the sorts you would place a single drop of the gib into the little calyx that is left beside the flower bud.Then you wait. It's as simple as that. My understanding of why this is done is that it forces the flower bud to develop quicker thus blooming earlier and also it tends to increase the size of the flower by a 1/4 up to a half size larger than normal. From what i've seen it's done mostly by growers who are into showing their flowers. I've managed to put together a good sized collection of camellias in a rather short period of time and do at some point in the future plan to show the blooms. This is why I was interested in attempting to gib flowers. Our local show will be the weekend of January 10th 2015 and I might try to enter something and see what happens!!! I also have been told that if you wish to enter flowers in an upcoming show and you plan to gib that it should be done 30-60 days prior to that show. So if I want to enter blooms into my upcoming January show I would start gibbing the buds sometime around Thanksgiving. I hope all that made some sort of sense!!! David

If you're looking for prolonged bloom, you'll probably do better with a japonica (such as 'Prof Sargent') rather than a sasanqua (such as 'Fairy Blush' & 'Setsugekka'). If blooming season isn't your only criterion, though, sasanquas are wonderful garden plants. 'Elegans' is known as a long bloomer, & many of its sports (such as 'C M Wilson' & 'Grand Slam') also are supposed to have a long blooming season. As Luis said, 'Spring's Promise' has been mentioned as a marathon bloomer, & 'Daikagura' is a tried & true garden classic that also blooms early in the season. 'Joshua E Youtz' was originally called 'White Daikagura' & is also early, beautiful & blooms for months. 'Prof Sargent' has a reputation as a truly outstanding garden plant- I just planted one this fall, & he's establishing himself nicely, & getting ready to bloom. An article at SFGate mentions that the Prof blooms from Fall to Spring there. 'Nuccio's Bella Rossa' is also supposed to bloom for an unusually long time, & has a gorgeous flower, IMO; I'm a little bit in love with 'NBR Variegated'. Nuccio's isn't terribly close to SF, but if I lived anywhere on the West Coast, I'd consider a visit during blooming season just for the experience itself. Those folks know a few things about camellias, so even if you can't go, you may want to contact them for recommendations for your area. I know SF has a public Japanese tea garden, but don't know much about their camellias- it might be worth a visit? Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: ACS Camellia Encyclopedia

I always say that there oughta be a law the requires everyone in this area to grow Camellias and Gardenias. They are such a treat during the off season. My only complaint about mine is the slow growth rate - but god they put up with anything. I have some in deep deep shade way in the back of the yard and they continue to grow (though they don't bloom as much).

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.