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’

Camellia Glen – Camellias – Open Days 2016

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It’s late March and it’s camellia time again. Our first sasanquas – Mikuni Ko, Sparkling Burgundy, Bonanza, Gay and a few others are in full flower and looking wonderful. But it is 30 degrees celsius out in the garden and the flowers need a drink. We have missed all the recent rain but our plants are looking good. Perhaps the cooler nights will kick in soon.

The sweet pollen fragrance from the sasanquas is all around as you walk the garden. The tea camellia, Camellia sinensis, is flowering – and the bees are loving it – there are hundreds of bees in these bushes, as well as all the sasanquas. All the nectar loving birds are into them as well – makes a mess of the flowers, but that’s ok. Who says you need natives…..

The early japonicas, Arejishi and Alba Plena have their first flowers. The others are all budded up and we will see more and more over the coming weeks.

We have had a number of visitors wanting camellias already and people are asking when we will start our open days. So, we start just after Easter – weekends unless specified, as detailed below. Our open days just mean that we are open to the public, you can wander the gardens, and we will have plants for sale. Most of our plants are in 140mm pots.

We start our open days this weekend – a bit early, but we have people wanting to visit.
So here is a schedule as best we know. If in doubt, please email to sales@camelliaglen.com or phone 07 54450333.
Nursery times are 8.00 am to 3.00 pm unless otherwise stated.
We do not accept cards, so please – cash.
We will also be available at other time during the week – please contact us, as above, to arrange a mutually convenient time.

Open Days
Saturday and Sunday 2 and 3 April 8.00 am to 3.00pm
Saturday 9 April 8.00 to 3.00
Closed Sunday 10 April
Saturday and Sunday 16 and 17 April 8.00 to 3.00
Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 April 8.00 to 3.00
Monday 25 April Anzac Day Closed
Saturday and Sunday 30 April 1 May 8.00 to 3.00
Monday May 2 – Labour Day public holiday – closed
Saturday 7 May 8.00 to 3.00
Sunday 8 May – Mothers Day – closed
Saturday 14 May 8.00 to 3.00
Sunday 15 Closed (QCS Sherwood)
Saturday 21 8.00 to 3.00
Sunday 22 May Closed (HMAQ visit)
Saturday and Sunday 28 and 29 May 8.00 to 3.00

More later.

Dates to note:
Maleny Garden Club – Gardening on the Edge – Saturday and Sunday 11 and 12 June
Kellyfield Camellias Curramore (Maleny) Open Garden – Give Me 5 for Kids – Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 June
Camellia House, Palmwoods Road, Palmwoods – Open Garden – Saturday and Sunday 2 and 3 July
Queensland Garden Expo, Nambour – Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8, 9 and 10 July
Queensland Camellia Society – Show and Sale – Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens – 31 July
Brisbane International Garden Show, Strathpine – 6, 7, 8 and 9 October

More information available later.

Come visit, walk the gardens and see these beautiful plants in flower.

Get out in the garden and get dirty….

Beatrice Emily

Sasanqua Beatrice Emily

 

Open Days 24 and 25 October

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We are open to the public this weekend – Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October – 8.00am to 3.00pm.
This will be the last open day for this season….after this, we will be available by appointment as usual.
We will have a bunch of camellias available – sasanquas for the sunny parts of the garden – a few hundred in 140mm pots and a nice collection in 200mm pots. We are selling out of some varieties – but that’s the objective. Japonicas – for the semi shade spots, at least part shade – we have a thousand or so across more than a hundred varieties. Most are in 140mm pots, but again we have a small number in 200mm pots. We have some hybrids and a few species well.

We need to make some room for new season plants, so drop by and pick up some of the best camellias we have grown.

Camellia japonica Royal Velvet – one of the best garden camellias

This is a great time to plant, there is new growth showing and getting plants now to either pot up or plant out will result in some amazing growth over the next few weeks. For those who planned, yes, a month or so ago was a better time to plant – before the new growth started, but if you are careful, there will be little damage to the tender new shoots and leaves.

When you are planting out, remember to tickle the roots out so that the new roots will not continue to grow in the curled shape of the pot. This helps make a healthier plant in the long term. A light application of fertiliser now, added to the backfill, will give the plants a good run into spring and summer. Water in well – and that means a slow half a bucket worth of water to get moisture right down into the soil. Mulching now will suppress weeds as well as keep the root area cool and reduce evaporation.

Look out for little caterpillars and aphids in the new foliage. Squish the grubs and you can hose off aphids.

Camellias will make a great addition to any garden, as a specimen plant, a forest or a hedge. Come in and see us, and we can advise you on what might suit your site best.

Get out into the garden – its good for the soul.

Sasanqua Barrys Chance - for the full sun

Camellias, camellias camellias and vireya rhododendrons

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We are well into camellia season – so we are open again this weekend – Saturday and Sunday – 8.00am till 3.00 pm.

We have mostly small pots, 140mm, with plants 30 to 90cm tall. About 200 different varieties – if anything that makes the selection process harder – lots to choose from. But no one complains – they just love the variety – ones you don’t see every day. So come in, walk the garden, pick your favs, and buy yours this weekend.

Sasanquas – the sun camellias – are just about finished flowering, but we are still selling plenty. Singles, semi doubles, whites through pinks to red and some bi-colours. Useful for hedging, screening, specimen plants or just have them in the garden. These evergreens make a wonderful garden plant all year.

But it is the time of the japonicas now – hundreds of flowers out right now. These prefer part shade in this part of the country and love high shade from trees. Again ranging from singles, semi-double, formal double, informal double and elegans form and colours from the purest whites, blush, peachy pinks through to reds and some edging into the purples – if the soil and weather suit. Then there’s striped, variegated, bi-coloured, edged and more.

This is a great time to plant, while the plants are in their winter dormancy.

See the ‘culture notes’ on this web site for more detailed information.

The Queensland Camellia Society has its annual show and sale at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens auditorium on Sunday 5 July – there will be bloom displays, information, camellia talks and plants to buy.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10, 11 and 12 July is the best sub tropical garden show in the country – Queensland Garden expo, at the Nambour Showgrounds – Sunshine Coast. Too good to miss – and we will be there.

Get into the garden this weekend. Cheers.

Camellia japonica 'Candy Flame'

Camellia Glen – Camellias – Open Days 2015

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Camellia Glen – Camellias – Open Days 2015

It’s late March and it’s camellia time again. Our first sasanquas – Mikuni Ko, Sparkling Burgundy, Bonanza, Gay and a few others are in full flower and looking wonderful. But it is 30 degrees celsius out in the garden and it’s dry again. That is unseasonally warm for us, as we are into autumn and we should be having at least cooler nights. We need a few showers of rain to freshen everything up. It seems strange after the 300 plus mm of rain – that’s about 12 inches – that we had in February.

The sweet pollen fragrance from the sasanquas is all around as you walk the garden. The tea camellia, Camellia sinensis, is flowering – and the bees are loving it – there are hundreds of bees in these bushes, as well as all the sasanquas. All the nectar loving birds are into them as well – makes a mess of the flowers, but that’s ok. Who says you need natives…..

The early japonicas, Arejishi and Alba Plena have their first flowers. The others are all budded up and we will see more and more over the coming weeks.

We have had a number of visitors wanting camellias already and people are asking when we will start our open days. So, we start just after Easter – weekends unless specified, as detailed below. Our open days just mean that we are open to the public, you can wander the gardens, and we will have plants for sale. Most of our plants are in 140mm pots.

Open Days

Saturday and Sunday 11 & 12 April 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Monday to Friday 13 to 17 April – please call to confirm – 5445 0333 or sales@camelliaglen.com
Saturday 18 April 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 April 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 2 and 3 May 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday 9 May 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Sunday 10 May CLOSED – Mother’s Day
Saturday 16 May CLOSED

Sunday 17 May open 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 May 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday and Sunday 30 and 31 May 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 6 and 7 June – OPEN – or see us at Maleny Gardening on the Edge
Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 June CLOSED – Queensland Camellia Society Day here at Camellia Glen
Saturday and Sunday 20 and 21 June – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday and Sunday 27 and 28 June 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 4 and 5 July CLOSED – See us at Queensland Camellia Society Show and Bloom Competition – Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Toowong on SUNDAY 5 July. Open to the Public for a small entry charge.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10, 11,and 12 July – CLOSED – see us at Queensland Garden Expo, Nambour. www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

Saturday and Sunday 18 and 19 July 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 July 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

We will have other days in August – to be confirmed.

See the web site for BIGS – Brisbane International Garden Show – Pine Rivers Park, Strathpine – 8, 9, 10 and 11 October.
www.brisbanegardenshow.com.au

Come and visit, we have some 300 camellias in the garden, some azaleas, vireya rhododendron and a few magnolias and michelias. We have about 200 different varieties of camellia for sale – there is sure to be something that you like.

Get out into the garden today…

Sasanqua Sparkling Burgundy

Japonica Alba Plena

Another ‘Open to the Public’ day Sat 18 and Sunday 19 October

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We will have the nursery ‘Open to the Public’ again this weekend -Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 October – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm.

We have had quite a number of folk wanting to visit over the past weeks and so we have had lots of visitors. The weather has been beautiful – although we desperately need rain – and the camellias, especially the japonicas, are putting on new growth, and are looking fantastic. We have several hundreds of both sasanqua and japonica in 140mm pots that are sale ready. These plants are 12 months old and so have established roots, and vary from 20cm to 60cm depending on the variety and the normal growth habit. We have over 150 different varieties, so if you are wanting something in particular, please ask.

Now is a great time for planting, although last month was better – before the plants started new growth. Be gentle with new growth as it can be quite fragile until it hardens off. Do not over-fertilise, which although tempting to do, it is likely to burn new roots and foliage. There should be enough active slow release fertiliser, in our plants at least, to keep going until the end of the year.

When planting, make your hole twice as big as the plant rootball. You must have a well drained soil – water must drain from the hole freely and not stay for days. Add any composted material that you want to add to the backfill soil, including any well rotted cow, horse, sheep, alpaca, goat manures (avoid fresh chook manure and mushroom compost as these are inclined to be alkaline and we need an acid soil for camellias). You can also add coarse sand or fine gravel to the backfill – this aids drainage and lifts the plant. This is especially good if the area in damp.

Camellias need a well drained and acid soil. They will not tolerate wet and boggy soil. Keep the pH to below 7 and best 6 to 6.5.

Backfill the hole – and our recommendation is to raise the plant proud of the surrounding soil level so that when the newly dug soil settles, your camellia does not find itself in a hole.

Water in your newly planted camellia and mulch well to about 10cm. This keeps the moisture in, stops the top soil from drying and suppresses the weeds. Water well – like a bucket of water – once a week.

Remember, sasanquas can take and perform at their best in full sun. They can also take part shade and be perfectly happy. For SE Queensland where we are, we recommend that japonicas should have at least part day shade. We also recommend morning shade – especially in winter, as the flowers will burn. It is the sun on the dew on the flowers in the morning that burn the flowers. Our morning sun is strong. Particularly protect all formal double flowers. The plants themselves handle the sun well enough.

We will recommence our mail order in December when the new growth hardens sufficiently to cope with packing.

Things to do, plants to plant, cuttings to pot, little plants to make into bigger plants. Time to go.

Come and visit – we have lots of beautiful camellias.

Nursery Open this Weekend 3 and 4 May – Camellia Glen

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Despite the wet and the cooler weather forecast for the weekend, we will be open this Saturday and Sunday – 3rd and 4th May – 8.00am to 3.00 pm and already expecting a few people to visit.

Last weekend was a great one for the camellia lovers who visited us – they had the pick of the new season plants and many left with some hard to find treasures.

The sasanquas are still in full flower and making a great show. The japonicas and some hybrids are showing some colour with flowers on the early starters like the great red Beni Arejishi, the deep red Takanini, Grape Soda, Aspasia Macarthur and sports, Margaret Davis, Otahuhu Beauty and Lady Loch, Lipstick, Silver Tower, some absolutely perfect Desire flowers that are very happy with the overcast weather which is giving these temperamental blooms lots of sun protection, Dona Herzillia de Freitas Magalhaes, Tamzin Coull and more. Not peak flowering, but the more I think about, there were a lot of flowers out today when I was walking some camellia lovers around the garden.

Camellia Hybrid - Tamzin Coull

For those of you who might be looking for something in particular, drop in – apart from some 50 sasanqua varieties, we have over 200 different japonica and hybrid varieties, a few of the species.
See our previous blog for our open days schedule.
Look forward to seeing some of you this weekend.

Open to the Public; Camellias; Direct from us.

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Camellia Glen Nursery is starting open days for the start of the camellia season – this weekend. See the schedule in our last blog. So we are open this Saturday and Sunday 12 and 13 April – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm.

The sasanquas are flowering well; if you would like to see these in flower, the time is now.

But where are the japonica flowers? At the Queensland Camellia Society meeting last Sunday, our VP David, from Toowoomba, was saying that they had flowers on 70 different varieties, and brought a lovely selection of flowers to prove it. One was Easter Morn – early even for that….

After some discussion, most other members in the greater Brisbane area agreed that the japonicas were late this season.

One of the contributing reasons will be the lack of rain during the flower developing stage. It seems our Toowoomba friends hand water regularly, and this is the difference. Since most of us in SE Queensland at least, have received some good rain, we can look forward to a good season, if a little late in starting.

With the big cyclone up north, there will be a lot more water and rain around – lets hope that these folk didn’t suffer too badly in the wind and the water heads out to those who are still in desperate drought conditions.

We look forward to seeing some of you up here for our open days. We are often asked if we have much stock on hand. We grow all our own stock so what we have is what we have. We are a small operation – but there will be some 6000 plants across about 210 different varieties. This is enough to satisfy most.

Get out in to the garden this weekend and get dirty…

Camellias – Open to the Public

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It’s Camellia Season again. That is,  in South East Queensland.
Sasanquas have started flowering and the early japonicas are showing some colour. It has been very dry here and there is no doubt that camellias, like most plants, perform and flower better when they have had some good rain.
The earliest japonicas for us include Arejishi, Alba Plena, Fimbriata (A sport of Alba Plena) and Kamo Hon Ami. But the others are sure to follow.

We will start our Open Days – now. These are days when we invite members of the public to our garden and nursery – you can wander the garden – it is not a show garden but is does contain some 350 odd camellias which make a nice display when in flower, and you can purchase plants.

Open days:
We are open 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Open April 7 to 17 (school holidays here)
Closed Easter – 18 to 21 April
Open Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April
Open Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May
Open Saturday 10 May
Closed Sunday 11 May – Mothers Day
Closed Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May
Open Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 May

More Open Days to follow……

Upcoming Events

Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June – Gardening on the Edge – Maleny Garden Club, Maleny show grounds. Plants available for sale.
Sunday 29 June – Queensland Camellia Society Display and Show – Randall Studio – Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. Plants available for sale.
Friday 11, Sat 12, and Sunday 13 July – Queensland Garden Expo – Nambour Show Grounds, Nambour. Plants for sale. Best garden show around. A must see for gardeners of all persuasions. www.qldgardenexpo.com.au
Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July – Toowoomba Camellia and Flower Show – TAFE College Toowoomba. More details later.
Saturday 16 August – Queensland Camellia Society Camellia Workshop – Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Auditorium. Plants for sale, guest speakers on all things camellia, workshops on pot culture, potting, taking cuttings, grafting camellias, flower arrangements with camellias and so much more.

We attended the International Camellia Show in Vigo, Galicia, Spain, while at the ICS (International Camellia Society) congress in March. This is a pic of some of the camellias on display.

Camellia Display - Vigo, Galicia, Spain. March 2014

Xinzi - a newish hybrid of C. petalotti - purple blue

This hybrid of C. petalotti is this colour – I photographed it in a garden in Galicia, Spain last month.

To my knowledge it is not available for sale – certainly not in Australia.

It’s Almost Camellia Season

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It’s camellia season again, almost. Some of the early sasanquas are flowering with Mikuni Ko again leading the pack followed by Sparkling Burgundy. Some japonicas are showing spot flowers as well. It is a pity that it has been, and still is, so dry, here in SE Queensland. There are other areas in Australia in deep drought and I read in the Camellias Victoria newsletter, that a lot of gardens are showing plants with heat scorching and burning.

A lot of plants in our garden that do not get water via irrigation or hose, have not put on their spring and summer growth, and now, with the few showers of rain we have had, that are shooting as well as budding.

Keep the water up and the flowers will come.

Open Days coming up in April.

Barry's Chance - a sasanqua