Camellia Glen – open Saturday 11 May 2013

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We are not open Sunday – Mothers’ Day – but we are on Saturday. 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. Lots of camellias to look at and lots for sale – over 200 different varieties. The sasanquas are still in flower with the early varieties like Mikuni-ko just about finished after almost 3 months, the mid season ones in full flower and the late varieties just coming into flower.

And then the japonicas are starting to get serious – the early flowerers like Alba Plena, Arejishi, Takanini still going, Tama No Ura showing lots and lots of flowers as are Grape Soda and Carters Sunburst, and its ‘pink’ sport, Carters Sunburst Pink and I spied a couple of blooms on Mrs D.W. Davis Descanso. But then, with 300 in the garden, you’ve got to be unlucky not to see a bunch of camellias in flower at this time of the year. We should be able to pick 30 or 40 blooms for our display.

We continue to do mail order for those who can’t get to us. Just email your wish list and we will see if we can help.

The 35 new reticulatas we planted out recently are all doing well with flower buds on many and some still putting on new growth – a hangover from the crazy seasons we have had in summer and autumn.

Anyway, as the days get cooler, we will see more and more flowers. Look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow. We will be open again for the weekends 18 & 19 May and Saturday only 25 May.

Keep in mind Gardening on the Edge in Maleny over the weekend 8 & 9 June and then the Queensland Garden Expo in Nambour 5, 6 & 7 July. www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

C. Japonica Grape Soda

We also have small numbers of Vireya rhododendron available for sale as well – and there is always one of those flowering.

Vireya rhododendron Haloed Gold

Open Days and up-coming events

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Well, this last weekend was our first weekend ‘open to the public’ for this season, and apart from the miserable constant rain all day Saturday, we had a great weekend. Sunday was beautiful, and a pleasure to be wandering the garden, showing folk the camellias in flower, and selling lots of plants.

We are very pleased with the range available again this year across sasanquas, japonicas, hybrids and species – including the tea camellia – camellia sinensis. We have about 200 different varieties – mostly in 140mm pots with a small quantity in 200mm pots.

Here is our ‘Open to the Public’ program and up-coming events for the next couple of months:

April 20 and 21 – nursery open to the public and garden open to wanderers

April 27 and 28 – nursery open to the public etc

May 4 and 5 – nursery open to the public, garden open to wander

May 11 – Saturday – nursery open to the public (Sunday 12 closed – Mothers Day)

May 18 and 19 – nursery open to the public etc

May 25 – Saturday – nursery open to the public (Sunday 26 closed)

June 1 and 2 – nursery open to the public

June 8 and 9 – nursery open to the public.
Also see us at Maleny Garden Club Gardening on the Edge – Maleny High School hall and also a number of open gardens to visit as well – always a great weekend for gardeners of all persuasions – 8 and 9 June.

June 15 and 16 – nursery open to the public – also Sunshine Coast Show, Nambour

June 29 – nursery open to the public (closed Sunday 30)
June 30 – Queensland Camellia Society show and bloom competition – Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens

July 4, 5 and 6 – see us at the Queensland Garden Expo, Nambour Showgrounds – best garden show in Australia – site #291 – www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

July 13 and 14 – nursery open to the public

Hope to see you..

We are still doing mail order – if you are looking for that one (or 3 ) camellias, drop us an email and ask. We don’t always have them all, but we will try.

Happy gardening

Misty morning


Camellias – open to the public

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We will have our first ‘open to the public days’ 13 and 14 April, then each weekend after that in April and May. This is the first time we have been open this early – it gives people a chance to see the sasanquas in flower – and flowering they are.

Early varieties like Mikuni Ko, Sparkling Burgundy have been out for a while and now there are heaps – Violet Weymouth, Gay (such a great single white), Rainbow, Pure Silk, Narumi Gata – lots and lots – and the birds and the bees are loving them. Who said you need natives to attract the Australian native birds and bees into your garden – we have rosellas, king parrots as well as honey eaters and honey bees and a couple of different stingless native bees. See pics in a earlier blog.

Also, lots of folk lining up for that first open weekend 13 and 14 April – people wanting just the one special camellia – someone the other day wanted just one Betty Ridley and couldn’t get it anywhere – and folk wanting to plant a hedge or screen – some 5 metres, one 30 and one 60 metres. So there is a lot of interest in camellias.

We are still doing mail order for small quantities, we try for a minimum of three, but drop us an email if there is something you are chasing after.

And the big news today is that we have lots of flower buds on C. nitidissima – one of the yellow flowering camellias. Sometimes a bit shy to flower, our shrub is now about 3 to 4 metres tall and has dozens of buds. Can’t wait to see flowers again.

A bit hot today – like 33C, but the start of autumn will see cooler days and then the camellias will own the garden – again.

Get out into it.


Camellias – they are flowering!

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What a summer we have had here! 2012, in July, August, September and October we had 21mm of rain. November 72mm and in December just 31mm. This was certainly the longest dry we have experienced here on the Sunshine Coast in the 14 years we have been here. Water for nursery plants was ok but we were not able to keep sufficient to the 400 or so plants in the gardens. The ones under part shade fared well enough, but others dropped leaves, looked poor and failed to put on any new spring and summer growth.

This was of some concern when we started taking cuttings in December – many plants did not have quality material for cuttings and as a result, we will be short of some varieties in 2014.

Then it rained and blew as the tail end of cyclone Oswald came down the coast – from 24 January we had at least 500mm in 5 days and so far in February (it’s 24th today) we have had another 270mm. We are expecting more today if the reports turn true. So, where we had dry brown grass, now we can’t mow it quickly enough – plants that had dropped leaves are putting on new growth – somewhat unseasonally – but the plants will do what they need to do at the right time for them. The early sasanquas, particularly Mikuni-ko, are flowering with spot flowers on Bonanza, Sparkling Burgundy and flower buds are sucking up that moisture ready to burst out over the coming weeks.

Japonicas that failed to put on new spring growth are now showing 20 and 30cm of new growth – and budding up on the old wood at the same time. With this amount of moisture in the ground now, we should have a good showing over the next 6 months.

During the ‘ex-cyclone’ event, we lost power for 3 days. Apart from some inconvenience in the home, our concern was that the cuttings we had taken in December were not getting the constant misting that give them the best chance of callousing and putting on roots. Whereas we have had some leaf drop, we are hopefully confident that out strike rate will pick up.

Open Days

As we start the flowering season, we have had many gardeners calling in to purchase camellias for their gardens. We will start our open days over the weekend 13 and 14 April and then each weekend in April. We will also open in May, June and July. Watch this for dates.

Dates to remember

30 June – Queensland Camellia Society display – Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens – Randall Studio. We will have plants to sell.

5, 6, 7 July – Queensland Garden Expo – Nambour – best show in the country – see us at stall #291. www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

We are also happy to do mail order for those who cannot visit us – east coast Australia at this stage. Email us..

Happy gardening

Sun Camellias – flowering now

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Last year, the Southern California Camellia Society released a book called ‘Sun Camellias’ and it provides much information about these beautiful and versatile plants. Geared primarily for their local market, it does have information for other parts of the worlds including Australia – which is primarily our market. The publication used quite a number of our photos.

What is interesting is that many of the varieties named are the same as we grow here – California sharing a similar general climate to us. Even then, there are also different varieties mentioned.

This is true also within Australia, with many of the varieties grown in the cooler southern states  not necessarily performing well in the heat and humidity in South East and coastal Queensland where we are.

Some places – like Melbourne, have warm to hot dry summers, and cool and wetter winters. We here, have the opposite – hot wet summers and cool dry winters. Hot – it is high 20’s today and sunny – and very humid. Wet – well this year we have had 527mm in January, 269mm in February and 421mm in March – that’s 1.27 metres. The ground is wet. We have been fortunate in that we have a very well draining sandy loam which drains freely, and we have only one garden that kills camellias because of the wet. We don’t plant there now, and have lost no plants, and all are looking very healthy and full of bud.

Care must be taken to see that plants are kept healthy, and a general application of a copper based fungicide helps here. Also, as the rain and surface water will take away a lot of the top mulch, it will take fertilisers away also, as well as this mulch. Consider re-fertilising – at the appropriate time – and re-mulch to keep that moisture in and to insulate the roots and soil from temperature fluctuations.

But this is a great time in the garden – the early sasanqua camellias have been flowering since February and some of the early japonicas – Arejishi, Takanini and Alba Plena – are flowering.

We will be having a series on open days again this season – the first on Saturday 14 April – 10.00 am to 3.00 pm. More information soon. Watch this blog.

We have many hundreds of camellias – something to suit every garden. Come and visit. We continue to be asked if we are doing mail order this season and, yes, we are. Please contact us with your requests along with a post code so that we can get back to you with availability and costings.

If you are looking for photos on our web site, please use the varieties list and check the photo from there. We are re-making the photo gallery.

Happy gardening!

April 3, 2012