Roy fortunately this is rare, but occasionally a camellia plant will do this. I have about 200 camellias, but only one of them -- a large old 'Candidissima' -- invariably produces hundreds of buds and not a single flower. I have cussed it many times. Not necessarily a symptom of disease (the plant may be otherwise healthy) but chronic bud drop has a long list of potential causes -- too much/little water, too much/little sunlight, too much/little heat in summer (or cold in winter) etc. If anyone could figure it out they would win a medal in the camellia world. My own opinion is that there are some varieties which are not suited for particular climates and thus do not open properly (or at all). For instance, some varieties need more cold weather to open. You see that in Hawaii for instance, and in south Florida, where the weather is too mild to permit many formal doubles to open but other bloom forms open fine. (And they can grow Reticulatas outside.) Many people don't realize that camellias do need a certain amount of cold weather, and we have had very mild winters lately -- it barely reached freezing once this year. In the case of my 'Candidissima' it is about a 50 year old plant that is too large to move, but it is a rare old variety, so I plan to make some airlayers to see if I can get it to bloom in other places on the property. And after taking the airlayers off, I plan to cut it down and graft something else more dependable on the large stump. That is one solution to bud drop! If your plant is small enough, I would suggest next autumn digging it up and moving it to another location to see if you can get it to bloom. I have had some success with that. Otherwise graft something else on it that will bloom more dependably in your climate. And meanwhile try some other varieties that won't disappoint. This is probably more information that you wanted, but I just so happened to have seen that dadgum old 'Candidissima' again today and threatened it with a chainsaw. But I doubt it was listening. Good luck! Forrest

Hello Linda, best to start a thread of your own if you want good replies as this thread is over 6 yrs old! Ppl don't always bother to reply to such old threads. Also, we need to know exactly what you are referring to as bulbs don't grow into flowers! Do you means buds I guess so! Take a pic and upload it so we can see your plant, it helps. Also go tour your profile and add some of your location info like we try to do, that's always useful. You don't say if it is a Christmas cactus, I'm guessing not as they aren't often seen, they get mistaken for other types of holiday cactus, plus it's the wrong time of year for a CC to be flowering! We will look out for your new thread..........

Here's a link which includes care info, I found it by searching for Thanksgiving cactus, care of https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/thankcac.html?avad=176654_a14d165f9 The key thing to learn is these are tropical jungle cacti, not arid land, so it's different care, that mean no direct sun, like the edge of window is good. Pls read the link & then experiment. You could also take several cuttings to try in different parts of your home. I currently have an experiment going of growing them in a tiny bit of water, no soil.

Ken, how many times do I have to say I moved to BALTIMORE, not Philly? And no, I purchased the Bellini "Grape" right here in Baltimore, at a nursery. The leaves on the Bellini look healthy, look great---it's just not flowering. As Embo said, "Maybe next year".