Open Days – Open to the Public

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Today has got to be one of the most miserable days we have enjoyed for some time – cold (well for us anyway), wet and dreary. But the plants will love the rain and it is a day we don’t have to irrigate.

Notwithstanding the weather, we will be open to the public this weekend Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 June – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm.

Saturday 29 June we will be here as well, but Sunday 30 June, we will be at the Queensland Camellia Society display at the Brisbane Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens – and we will have plants for sale there. www.camelliasqld.org.au

And then, the weekend after – 5, 6, and 7 July – we will be at the Queensland Garden Expo in Nambour – Showgrounds – best garden show in Australia. Come and see us there. www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

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

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

Camellia flowers and bees

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We have had a week of wet – 5 inches or 125mm of rain – and cold – one day a minimum of 15 and max 17 degrees.

But today was fine and sunny – even warm, and a walk in the garden in the middle of the day proved the value of camellias in the garden for bees. There were hundreds of them in all flowers with those lovely yellow stamens. The lutchuensis bushes were a-buzz with dozens of bees in each one. There were honey bees and a couple of different native bees.

Check these out.

Get out into the garden and enjoy..

We are open to the public this Saturday 30 June.
Come and see us at the Queensland Garden Expo at Nambour Show Grounds – 6, 7 and 8 July – best garden show there is….

Open Days – June & July 2012

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More open days in June and July as follows:
Sunday 17 June – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturday 30 June – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
Queensland Garden Expo Friday 6, Sat 7 and Sun 8 July – Nambour Show Grounds – see us there – www.qldgardenexpo.com.au
Saturday 14 and Sunday 14 July
Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 July

Probably more later. Just call if you would like to visit at other times.

We still have many varieties available for sale – about 175 – but we are out of some – still a few thousand plants available. We are happy for folk to visit and just wander the garden – it’s not a display garden, but you can see a couple of hundred named camellias in flower as well as a number of vireya rhododendrons. The magnolias have a few flowers and will start in ernest in the coming few weeks.

Look forward to seeing some of you.

Camellia Glen Nursery – Open to the Public

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Our nursery and gardens will be open to the public for a number of weekends now that the camellias have started flowering. See about 400 garden camellias in flower and hopefully some vireya rhododendron and magnolias.

We have over 200 varieties of camellias available for sale with about 40 varieties of sasanquas, about 150 varieties of japonicas and hybrids, and a number of reticulatas and species. Not all varieties are available each year.

We also provide a mail order service to the east coast Australia mainland only. We prefer to have a three plant minimum. All plants are available in 140mm pots. Just email us and we will communicate directly with you regarding details.

We will be open on the following days – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 April
Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 April
Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 May
Saturday 12 May
Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 May
26 and 27 May – closed – see us at Beerwah at the Glasshouse Sustainability and Garden Expo – Sunday only
Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 June
9 and 10 June – closed – see us at the Maleny Garden Club Gardening on the Edge

Other dates to remember:
Queensland Garden Expo, Nambour Show Grounds, Friday 6, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 July. See the web site www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

Kellyfield Camellias – open garden – Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July 9.00 am to 4.00 pm – 958 Kidaman Creek Road, Curramore, Maleny. Display of Camellia Reticulata and more.

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

Camellia Season 2012 starts.

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We now hope that the problems that some have encountered with the photo gallery are gone.

By mid February, our earliest sasanquas started flowering – Mikuni Ko, Sparkling Burgundy, Bonanza among them. This is really too early for us as we are still having 30 plus degree heat, and so the flowers wilt a little in the heat. But it still brings that colour and fragrance to the garden.

All the bushes are budding up really well and this promises to be another great season. We have had rain – 527mm in January, 269mm in February and just 120mm this last week – that’s almost a metre or just over 36 inches. We are fortunate to have a sloping property and a well draining sandy loam soil. We do have one garden which is too wet for some camellia, and the japonicas that we planted there some 12 or so years ago showed their displeasure within two seasons. The row of sasanquas that we planted a metre up the garden are thriving. This reinforces that raising the bed in wetter areas is important.

The vireya rhododendons in the garden are looking great, so much flower at the moment brings those stunning yellows, oranges, reds and everything in between into their own. These also insist on a well drained position in very freely draining soil. We find staking young plants ensure that they stay upright. We also plant a couple of the same variety quite close together so that they support each other – it also doubles the flowers.

We have a fine variety available this season, and we look forward to seeing some of you on our open days. These will start April. We also have a few local garden shows that we will be attending.

We continue to do mail order – east coast Australia mainland only at the moment – so if there is something you want, drop us an email.

Happy gardening – and remember – ‘Improve your Plant Life Balance’ – plant ‘More Trees Please’.

Open Day October 8 and 9 – Vireyas and Camellias

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We are open again Saturday and Sunday, 8 and 9 October 2011, 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. We have had a few requests that we open again, so this will give folk another chance to visit.

We have many hundreds of Camellias, shared over about 200 varieties, all putting in new spring growth – all in 140mm pots.

Vireya rhododendron, also in 140mm pots, will be available. Spring is one of the major flowering times for many of the Vireyas and many of our stock and garden plants are in flower. We have over 50 varieties available for this weekend including:

Aura Magic, Barbara Alan, Beejay Bay, Brilliantine, Bold Janus, Butterfly Blush, Charming Valentino, Cristo Rey, Easter Bonnet, Fantasia, Frances, Golden Bower, Golden Charm, Goldilocks, Haloed Gold, Ivory Coast, Jean Baptiste, Jenzelle, Kisses, Laetum, Loranthiflorum x Laetum, Mango Mousse, Mellow Magic, Neesa, Orange Cascade, Orange Flambe, Pink Swan, Pink Dream, Pink Delight, Powerhouse, Richie, Robert Bates, Robert Withers, Sunburst, Sunset Fantasy, Sunset Gold 50, Sweet Rosalie, Toff, Troppo, Tropic Glow, Tequila Sunrise, Tiramisu, Valencia, Very Vermillion.

Numbers are limited for many varieties.

This is the first time we have opened specifically for Vireyas, so we hope we can satisfy the needs of some of you at least.

Haloed Gold

Open to the public – again

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Our nursery will be open to the public again this weekend, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm – cash only please.

We have had a number of people enquiring when we would be open again – so – here we go. The stock we have is in 140mm pots – same as before – and we are out of some varieties. We do have a couple of thousand plants spread across about 140 varieties in stock, so we should be able to satisfy most needs.

Many of the reticulatas are still in flower and many japonicas are still spot flowering. The cool weather appears to have extended the season somewhat. Species like Tsaii have just started flowering and most of the japonicas are putting on nice fat growth buds just waiting for September when the weather will be warm enough for the new growth to start.

To prepare for the new growth, now is a good time for us – South East Queensland – to do some pruning, if you want to shape your plants or just prune them down to size. You can also fertilise to help new growth on the way and mulch to keep moisture in the soil.

Those of you in cooler parts probably need to leave these exercises for another month or so.

The magnolias are flowering beautifully and we have been very pleased with how well they are doing for us. Felix and Vulcan have flowers, Brozzonii, Merrill, Galaxy, Royal Crown, Soulangeana x Rustica Rubra and Iolanthe have been flowering for weeks. Denudata, or what we purchased as denudata from a local nursery, has disappointingly flowered yellow – nice – but not denudata. The girls, Susan, Jane and Ricki are all in flower and have been a real pleasure for the past weeks.

What a great time of the year to be a gardener!