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

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 to the Public Sunday 27 July

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We are open again today, Sunday 27 July 2014. And what a beautiful morning it has started off. We still have many different varieties of camellias, sasanquas for the sun, japonicas for those part shade positions, and of course the hybrids and species. Hundreds of plants, and about 200 different varieties mostly in 140mm pots (that’s a 6inch pot) with plants between 30cm and 90cm depending on the variety.
Lots of camellias still flowering, come and wander.
We also have many vireya rhododendron available – some flowering now.
Cheers.

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

Queensland Garden Expo – Nambour Showgrounds 8 + 9 + 10 July

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Camellia Glen Nursery will again this year have a very extensive range of camellias available at the Qld Garden Expo. This Garden Expo is acknowledged as the best event of its kind and well worth a visit for every garden enthusiast, or anyone who just enjoys a great day out in the garden. See the website at www.qldgardenexpo.com.au

Although we will probably not have every variety that we grow at the show, we will have about 120 varieties of camellia sasanqua, japonica, hybrids and species. We will also have a range of Vireya rhododendron. Come and see us there.

We will be open to the public again for three weekends following the Expo:
Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July
Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July
Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July

Each day 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. No EFTPOS.