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'

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.

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.

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 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!

Open to the Public, camellias, vireyas

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Our open days will be on again for the next two weekends;

  • Saturday 14 May and Sunday 15 May – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm
  • Saturday 21 May and Sunday 22 May – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Please be aware that we do not offer EFTPOS – cash only please.

The following Sunday 29 May, we will be at the Glasshouse Sustainability Expo at Beerwah – see us there.

Half Aspasia Macarthur, half Margaret Davis

Gardens and Nursery Open to the Public

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The nursery and gardens are open to the public for the next 3 weekends – Saturday and Sunday – 8.00 am to 3.00 pm. That’s 17 and 18 July, 24 and 25 July, 31 July and 1 August. After that, visits are by appointment only. Please ring or email to make arrangements. Ask us about our Camellia Collections lists – from recommendations for beginners to lists of deep reds, best whites, formal double pinks, miniatures and some different ones.

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.