Camellias – nursery open this Saturday

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Camellias - ready for sale

Camellia Glen will be open for visitors again this Saturday. we have hundreds of camellias – sasanquas for the full sun, japonicas for part shade, hybrids and a few species – all ready for sale.

Walk around the garden and see dozens of sasanquas in full flower. The early japonicas are starting to flower as well.

We have many hundreds of plants – about 50 varieties of sasanqua and some 150 japonicas for you to choose from. Plants range from 30cm for the slower growing ones to 60 to 80 cm for the taller growers. Choose something that will suit your needs. We will be happy to assist you with your selection process.

Sasanqua 'Barry's Chance'

We are also able to do mail order for small quantities – from minimum of 3 plant by mail to multiples of 10 to 12 by courier. East coast mainland Australia only.

Come and brighten up your day – and your garden – with beautiful camellias.

There are a small number of Vireya Rhododendron as well – some in flower.

Vireya Butterscotch

Come visit.

Camellias – open to the public this weekend

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The sasanqua camellias are starting to flower with lots of colour in the garden.

We are open this weekend – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm – so if you are wanting to check out these beautiful plants, we have a few thousand available.

Sasanquas are happiest in full sun and are the autumn flowerers – flowering from March till June – at least for us here in SE Queensland.
Japonicas need at least part shade or filtered sun to look their best. These start flowering around late April/May and continue until about September for the late ones. Remember it is the flowers that spoil in the sun – the plants handle the sun pretty well and suffer only minor sunburn damage if there is sufficient moisture available to the root system.

We have a range of hybrids and some of the species camellias available as well.

Come along and see us.

C. sasanqua Early Pearly

Camellia sales – open this weekend

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We are open again this weekend – 8.00am to 3.00pm.
Here is our schedule for the next few weeks:

Saturday and Sunday 24 and 25 May – open
Saturday and Sunday 31 May and 1 June – open
Saturday and Sunday 7 and 8 June – open
We will also be at the Maleny Showgrounds for the Maleny Garden Club ‘Gardening on the Edge’ weekend
Saturday and Sunday 14 and 15 June – open
Saturday 21 June – open
Sunday 22 June – closed
Saturday 28 June – open
Sunday 29 June – closed
Sunday 29 June – Queensland Camellia Society Annual Show and Bloom Competition – Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, Richard Randall Studio. Camellia plants for sale on site.
Saturday and Sunday 5 and 6 July – open
Saturday and Sunday 12 and 13 July – Nursery Closed
Friday 11, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 July – Nambour Showgrounds – Qld Garden Expo. Best garden show in Australia. www.qldgardenexpo.com
Saturday and Sunday 19 and 20 July – open
Saturday 26 July – open
Sunday 27 July – closed

Then by appointment on weekends

Saturday 16 August – Qld Camellia Society Camellia Workshop – Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, Auditorium. Demonstration on all things camellia; cuttings, grafting, potting, pruning, growing in pots, general care. Afternoon tea on sale. Plants for sale.

Candy Flame

Growing camellias – a little camellia culture

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On the weekend, we had a bunch of people come to the nursery to buy a few plants for their gardens – some wanted sasanquas for hedges or screens, some just wanted a couple for the garden, and some wanted to add to their camellia collection. We enjoy meeting new people and welcoming back returning customers and taking folk about our garden and showing them what you can achieve with a garden of camellias.

One of our customers came with a list and asked for a particular variety. We selected a nice plant – but when we put on the commercial plant label, the customer said that no she wouldn’t have that one because she didn’t like the flower on the label. And that is one on the difficulties selecting plants based on the picture on the label. Whereas label manufacturers use a photo of a sample of that variety, flowers often are variable in form depending on climate, weather and even the time of the season – that is whether it is early in the camellia flowering season, mid or late.

Take these two photos of Camellia Christmas Daffodil. Both these photos
were taken by me, at different times, of flowers on the one plant that we have of this variety.

Christmas Daffodil

Christmas Daffodil - 2

Now, there is no prize for seeing why the first flower is called Christmas Daffodil with the little hose in hose flutes – remembering that this will be flowering in winter in the the USA – Christmas. It is a beautiful flower. But the second photo is also Christmas Daffodil – and it is a simple single flower with no flutes at all – and still beautiful.

The plant decides how it will flower depending on conditions at the time. Both these flowers are Christmas Daffodil but are very different. So when selecting a plant, be conscious of the fact that the plant will flower the way it wants to depending on the conditions – be patient and you will get to enjoy all the flower forms on these special plants.

Have a look at your camellias – particularly the japonicas and hybrids – and see if you have different forms of flower on your plants – the chances are that you have.

Another interesting cultivar is the camellia with the longest name – Dona Herzilia de Freitas Magalhaes – loved for the strong mauve colour that is shown in most camellia publications. This cultivar will flower this magic colour in the right conditions – clay or shale soils and a good amount of cold. In a pot, it will flower a nice pink – deep pink – anemone form flower. But it needs the nutrient from the soil to get that purple colour going. The plant will need time to get its roots into the surrounding soil in order for it to start sucking up the appropriate nutrients, so again, be patient – it might take a couple of seasons. Our plant this year is starting to purple up – after about 5 years. See the different flowers.

Dona Herzilia de Freitas Magalhaes

Dona Herzilia de Freitas Magalhaes

And this one shows some of the blooms on the competition bench at the Illawarra Camellia Society Show last July – it shows a few all purple Donas as well as a number of variegated forms. These are showing a much stronger colour than we have achieved so far – but we are getting there…..

Get out into the garden and enjoy this wonderful weather. Gardening is just so much fun…

Nursery is open again this weekend – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.

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


Nursery open to the public – this weekend 13 and 14 April

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Despite the forecasted rain, the camellias are still flowering – well the sasanquas are and a few of the early japonicas – and we have lots of beautiful camellia plants ready for sale – so we are still open to the public this weekend.

This the first of our opening days for this season, and already we have had enquiries for those hard to locate camellias. We don’t have them all, but this season we have over 200 different varieties/cultivars available – so drop in – you might just find a camellia you just must have.

We have had another 133mm of rain this week and it is raining again.

Great weather for playing in the garden.

Joey - the guard dog

Garden and Nursery open to the public – 3rd and 4th July

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Our garden and nursery will be open to the public again this weekend – Saturday and Sunday 3rd and 4th July – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. The largest range of Camellias you are likely to find anywhere as well as an extensive range of Vireya Rhododendrons. Come and enjoy the Camellias in full flower. Hundreds of plants available for sale.