Celebrating the Camellias
Tiddley White Camellias
Have been taking lots of photographs of the beautiful Camellias. It's their flowering time. As usual, at this time of the gardening year, I'm so grateful that I planted so many, and wish I'd planted more. Typical greedy gardener!
Latest Camellias
The latest ones were dug out of my friend's garden three and a half years ago. After sulking and doing nothing, they've finally realised that they're supposed to be flowering shrubs. Possibly the tiddley white flowers would be suitable for a hedging Camellia. I've planted them near the front of the Wattle Woods, in a gentle curve. Maybe they'll take the hint and form a hedge - eventually.
I love the larger flowered shrubs with blooms that are a touch scruffy or ruffled, like the spiky red in the Wattle Woods. I'm not a huge fan of the hybrids with perfectly symmetric flower forms. Colour-wise, of course, all the pinks are instantly appealing, and so very pretty. But again I prefer the more natural look of the one-colour-only varieties.
Spiky Red Camellias
And I'm definitely biased - Camellias look their best with lots of space around them in a country garden setting - mixed up with other greenery, winding paths, taller trees, lower plantings like Hellebores, and so on.
As far as nurture goes, I load horse manure around their bases each year in late summer (or whenever I remember), and make sure it all gets watered in well. I never really prune them. That's about it!
A Camellia celebration...
So this is not of those 'I'm not an expert on Camellias, but...' web pages. It's just a shout-out, a celebration of their wonderful contribution to late winter, and a chance for me to show off my photographs for 2021. Camellias grow well in my garden.