Camellia Glen – It’s Camellia Season – Open Days

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It’s June 2, winter has begun, and the evenings are just now getting cooler.
We have had a few showers of rain over the past 24hours and more wet weather is forecast – we need some rain.

Time flies, the sasanquas – the autumn camellias – have been flowering for weeks now and will continue for the next month or so. The early flowering japonicas started spot flowering a few weeks ago and many are now in full flower. These will continue up until September – by then it is too hot again for our camellias to be flowering well.

Our ‘open to the public’ days have again been well received with folk coming to walk our gardens and to purchase camellias for theirs. We will have more open days as well as a number of external open gardens, shows and events. Here are some details:

Open Days
All our open days are from 8.00am to 3.00pm

Saturday and Sunday 4 and 5 June 2016
Saturday and Sunday 11 and 12 June
ALSO – 11 and 12 June – Gardening on the Edge – Maleny Garden Club – Maleny Showgrounds – open gardens and plant sales – lots of interesting camellias available.
Saturday and Sunday 18 and 19 June
ALSO – 18 June – Open Garden – the Sheahan garden, Palmwoods. Supports ‘Give Me 5 for Kids’. Plant sales – including lots of camellias.
Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 June
ALSO – 25 and 26 June – Open Garden at Kellyfield Camellias, 958 Kidaman Creek Road, Curramore via Maleny. A great camellia garden, sausage sizzle, morning and afternoon teas, beautiful camellias for sale. Open 9.00am to 4.00pm. Entry by donation. Supports ‘Give Me 5 for Kids’.
Saturday and Sunday 2 and 3 July 2016
ALSO – 2 and 3 July – supporting the Daniel Morecombe Foundation – Open Garden at Camellia House (Daniel’s old home), 116 Woombye Palmwoods Road, Palmwoods. 10.00am to 4.00pm, wander 5.5 acres of mature gardens including 700 camellias and much more. Sausage sizzle, refreshments, bric-a-brac, memorabilia, classic car display on Sunday morning including Aston Martins. Lots of beautiful camellias for sale. Entry $8 – supports Daniel Morecombe Foundation.
Saturday and Sunday 9 and 10 July 2016 – CLOSED
BUT see us at Queensland Garden Expo, Nambour Showgrounds, 8, 9 and 10 July. Best garden show around.
www.qldgardenexpo.com.au
Saturday 16 July CLOSED
Sunday 17 July
Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 July
Saturday and Sunday 30 and 31 July – CLOSED
BUT – see us at Queensland Camellia Society Annual Show and Sale on Sunday 31 July – Brisbane Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Auditorium. Open 9.00am to 3.00pm – Camellia talks, Camellia advice, Camellia plant sales, Camellia bloom competition and displays. Refreshments available. Entry $4.00.

After that, we will be available, as usual, by appointment.

Most of our plants are available in 140mm pots with some in 200mm sizes.

Come and visit, wander our gardens and see these beautiful plants in flower.

Silver Tower

Camellia Japonica ‘Silver Tower’

Nursery Open to the Public Saturday 25 October – and a bit of camellia culture

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What Beautiful weather – all we need now is a week of good soaking rain….Following last weekend’s open days, we will again be open this Saturday 25 October – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm.

We have several hundred camellias – sasanquas, japonicas, hybrids and some species – about 175 different varieties – there is sure to be something that appeals.

All our available plants are in 140mm pots, 9 to 12 months old with well developed roots. Plants are between 20 and 90 cm, depending on the natural development of that particular variety. These plants are putting on their new season growth now and are just itching for a new home. Now is a great time for planting – although last month would have been better – but we covered that in the last blog.

We hope that you will visit if you are needing camellias.

A bit of camellia culture.
We are requested on a regular basis, what is the best camellia camellias for growing in the ‘Brisbane’ area – as an example. Let’s start by saying that all the 40 or 50 varieties of sasanquas that we grow suit local conditions. All sasanquas perform and flower at their best in full sun, although they will take a part shade position with easy. Sasanquas are the autumn flowering ones – starting to flower in March/April – Mikuni-ko starts even earlier – and going through to July for the late flowering ones like Bert Jones. So any sasanqua will suit the Brisbane region and most regions from Maryborough to Hobart and in between. Just remember the basic needs of a well drained, acid soil, and sufficient water to get them established for a start. There are a few sasanquas that give us grief and they include Betsy Baker and Pink Frills (a beautiful flower but a poor shrub). Selection will ofter depend on flower form and height and shape of bush you are after, whether a specimen, a group planting, or planting for a screen or hedge, or for a specific effect like a ‘Japanese’ style garden.

Japonicas are less easy to categorise – but start with the same well drained and acid soil, and part shade. Plant in full sun in this area and the plants will generally struggle to thrive as they are suffering sunburn at a time when the roots are yet to establish sufficiently to support the plant. So, part shade, and we prefer morning shade – especially on the formal double flowers that will burn in the sun – and after all, it is the beautiful flowers we hang out for.

Pick you spot, check the soil, follow the basic rules for planting as we have covered before, water and mulch. Do NOT over fertilise.

Any questions, just ask…

So, get out in the garden this weekend, get some sun – it is said that we are all becoming vitamin D deficient because of our sun aversion – and enjoy spring.

Cheers

Camellia Reticulata - Lady Pamela

Camellias – buy direct from grower – huge variety

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What a fantastic weekend we had at the Maleny Garden Club Gardening on the Edge last weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day, Sunday not so much, but still a lot of people ventured out.

This Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June, we will have the nursery open to the public. Come and visit, wander the gardens, check out the camellias, vireyas, the reticulata camellia buds are showing some colour and I saw some magnolias as I drove past this evening.

A few thousand camellias to choose from and over 200 varieties – japonicas for shaded/part shaded spots, sasanquas for full sun/part shade. Most in 140mm pots – nice little plants.

Camellia Culture – someone asked me the other day that if they fertilise their camellias now, will they flower more. The answer is no. Camellias are flowering now – for us – sasanquas for the past few months and the mid and late season varieties are still full of flowers, and the japonicas are flowering now and will continue for a couple of months yet. In our area, flowering is all over by late September and it is getting too warm for the flowers to cope with the heat.

The plants have been preparing for this flowering season for months – from January they start putting out flower buds waiting for the right time to flower. Once all these flowers have bloomed, that’s it for the season. They will start a new flush of growth in spring with another in summer, and then they will start budding up again in late summer ready for autumn flowering next year.

Fertilise in early spring so that you get good new growth – that gives you new branches for flower buds to form on for next year.

Get out into it, get your hands dirty and enjoy your garden.

Camellia Nursery open to the Public 1 and 2 June – camellias and vireyas for sale

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8.00 am to 3.00 pm – Saturday and Sunday – we will be open again to the public. Thousands of camellias – spread over 200 different varieties – sasanquas for the sun; japonicas, hybrids, species for part shade spots. Come and visit, walk the garden – yes it is a bit wet and I haven’t been able to mow, but look at the flowers not the weeds. Then buy some beautiful camellias – and vireya rhododendrons…..

And now a little more camellia culture – pruning.
Camellias all take to being pruned and shaped. Sasanquas are used to make tall and short hedges or screens. In our garden, we have some camellias to 4 metres – but we also have some that we keep trimmed so that they stay about 1.5 to 2 metres, and others that we are keeping to less than 1 metre. So there are camellias for each different application. Talk to us about your camellia needs and we will offer you a solution.

Prune at the start of spring, after the plant has flowered but before it starts to put on new growth. It is hard to prune off new growth – psychologically at least. A trim once in spring and perhaps another later for shape – this will control your camellias. Don’t prune hard after January – mid-summer – you will cut off a lot of the flowers for next season.

Japonicas can be pruned too, just run the hedge shears over the top to keep plants to a manageable size – to the size you want.

Feed your plants in spring as well – a good camellia food will do the job. Underfeed rather than chuck on too much.

Have a good weekend – hope to see you here!

A little more Camellia Culture

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With so many people buying camellias, and in response to many questions, I thought I would do a bit more on camellia culture – what to do when you get your plants home.

But firstly, we will be available – that is open to the public – on Saturday 25 May – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm; closed Sunday. Come in on Saturday, wander the garden if you like, buy some camellias and vireya rhododendrons.

All this is covered in detail in the web site culture notes but… Camellias need a well drained acid soil – pH about 6.5 is good – over 7 is probably too alkaline. You can make your soil more acid by adding sulphur. Go to your garden centre and ask – but check the pH first.

If the area is inclined to hold moisture, a raised bed is a good option – you do not want to plant in a wet spot as your camellias will get root rot and suffer – if not die.

If you are not planting out immediately, put your plants in a semi-shaded position and make sure they are watered every day or two – and not just a sprinkle, water the pot so that all the potting mix is wet. If it has dried out, put the whole pot in a bucket of water for a few minutes and wait for all the air bubbles to stop – then the pot and the roots are wet. Take out of the bucket and let the water drain out freely.

Remember that sasanquas can go in full sun, japonicas and hybrids should have part shade at least.

When planting, pick your position wisely. Dig your hole twice as deep and as wide as the pot. Loosen the surrounding soil if it is solid and compacted. This will help the new roots. Add composted material to the backfill; use rotted cow and horse manures but not chook poo or mushroom compost – these can be too alkaline. You can add a spade-full or two of gravel or coarse sandy/gravely stuff – this helps drainage. Add a SMALL amount of fertiliser if you want to – the plant should have residual fertiliser in the mix and it should not need too much. Mix it all into the backfill – don’t dump it in the bottom of the hole – that just makes a place for the water to collect and that is not what we are trying to achieve.

Tickle the roots out a bit so they can start growing out into the new soil, and not just stay in the pot shape. If the plant’s root system is solid and tending to be pot bound, then rake out the roots with a 3 pronged cultivator or similar and get those roots a bit loose. Try not to break off too many. If you have to do this, give the roots a soak in a seaweed solution to help recovery.

Plant your new camellia in the hole, make sure that the top of the root ball is a little proud of the surrounding soil ie it is a bit higher than the surrounding soil after you used all the well mixed backfill and firmed it in.

Water the plant in well. You can add seaweed solution to the watering-in water.

Mulch well to a depth of 5 to 10 cm – this helps suppress weeds, keeps moisture in and keeps the soil insulated from extremes in temperatures. Stake young plants to help get them started – don’t tie them in too tightly and loosen and finally remove the tie so it does not strangle the plant.

Water in at least once a week (unless you have had at least 10mm of rain). Watch for flowers if the plant has buds. The plant is dormant now and will not put on growth ’till spring – japonicas first then sasanquas – for us about August September. Then watch for aphids on the new growth – wipe or hose them off or use a systemic insecticide as per directions.

Sit back and enjoy.

One of our Flower Girl seedlings - 'Alice'

What a difference a week makes!

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What a difference a week makes. We are open to the public again this weekend – Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm.

Last weekend, we were open; the sasanquas were still flowering well and we had a nice bunch of japonicas – but today as I was mowing – wow – the japonicas have decided to party! Still lots of sasanquas in full flower – the early ones starting to finish but still lots of colour for a few weeks yet – and the early japonicas like Arejishi, Alba Plena which we have mentioned in earlier blogs and Takanini with its dark burgundy flowers have been joined by a hundred or more more.

Drama Girl, a favourite for many and Easter Morn, which rarely flowers for Easter, are among the many to have their first flowers for the season.

Drama Girl

Easter Morn

We have lots of plants to sell; sasanquas, japonicas, hybrids, miniatures, fragrant ones, a small number of small reticulatas – but about 200 different varieties and a few thousand plants. We also have a nice range of vireya rhododendron, not huge numbers but a few varieties that are a bit different and a few of the oldies but goodies.

Come for a drive, wander the garden – just ignore the weeds – I do – so much to do and so little time – and have a look at these beautiful flowers as they come into their flowering season.

Camellia culture – we assume sometimes that most folk know about camellias, which ones to choose for where etc. But of course, we all need to be reminded every now and then. So…

Sasanquas – the sun camellias – flower earliest starting in February (Australia) – late summer and then into autumn. All sasanquas take full sun and in our view, perform best in a full sun position. They will grow and flower in a part shade position, but their strong suit is their sun hardiness. They have smaller leaves than the japonicas, flower profusely with the flowers shattering leaving a carpet of petals around the bush. When flowering is finished – early winter – around June for us here on the Sunshine Coast – sasanquas can be trimmed, pruned, and shaped. They take to being pruned very well and make the best hedges and screens.

Treated like sasanquas, but really vernalis which is a bit of a sas/jap cross – Star Above Star, Egao, and one of my favourites, Shibori Egao, the variegated one, also handle full sun, have a flower that hangs on the bush (better that the sasanquas and a bit more like the japonicas) and flowers later than the sas and earlier than japs. Great garden plants and can also be used for screening – and great flowers.

Japonicas – bigger leaves, dark glossy green, flowers start – well now – from April and continue through to August – that’s all through winter – and have the most beautiful range of flower colours, forms, size and blooms can last for days in a float bowl or on the bush. By August/September, our weather has warmed up and the sun quite strong so later flowering japonicas just do not suit us. Of course, this is a different story in cooler areas where the season can be quite a bit longer. Japonicas need part shade – our sun in SE Queensland is still strong enough to burn blooms – particularly the early morning sun on the dew on the flowers – and particularly on formal double flowers. Arejishi seems to be one of the exceptions, and there are others, that are not so bothered by the sun. A rule of thumb is that most reds handle more sun with the whites needing more shade.

There are more notes in the web site under ‘Camellia Care and Culture Notes’.

Get your hands dirty this weekend – plant a plant – better, plant a camellia…. and enjoy.

Alba Plena with froggie

Vireya Rhododendron - Ivory Coast