poorly camellia

If it is a new plant then it might not flower for the first couple of years.

It could be the soil, try ericaceous compost.

Here is a blog post that I wrote about camellias

simonjarvis.co.uk/2020/02/20/camellias-planting-and-care/

I did wonder, from the phraseology. I'm so used to leaping in with gardening queries, and I know voles can be a problem as I have them. And moles. And yet we survive.

ps to above - I think Hibouknits is touting for business - see cost of gardening thread where he/she says they're in Cheshire

Gardening in SW France is so different from UK gardening. As I've learned slowly over the years. More pests and a bigger variety. Climate, soil etc. and everything grows so fast! including giant weeds.
The last 2 posts give good advice about fencing - we had to fence off our veg. patch like that, and have given up on roses in an open bed. The deer eat all the new buds. Put the best in pots.
I don't think there's much you can do about moles (or mole voles.)
Are you in the Lot?
This is a separate topic really - suggest you start to buy the Rustica , a weekly french gardening magazine.

Have a look at this site, it relates to badger proof fencing, but the principle is the same.
www.wildlifefencing.co.uk/pages.php?pageid=4

I think you would need to dig a narrow trench a foot or so down and push a fine galvanised wire mesh fence down into it.

should have read campagnol

Try muflon and wild boar! I'm desperate to find a natural looking fencing solution to keep them out of my meadow,where I'm going to start permaculture gardening.There's also a problem with a 'mole vole'? I need to look that one up lol I've been shown the damage they do and I don't want it coming up under my veggies! campanile taupe is the french for one.If anyone is interested in coming out to SW France to set it up,I'd be happy to house you

I'd have been heartbroken too, loopy. It was bad enough when I had just one cow in my front garden.

My dad had a cow (may have been a bullock) lean on his car, very large dent !

If you think chooks can wreck a garden, try a herd of cows!
I'd spent hours, days, weeks setting out our walled garden when farming,only to awake one morning to see 58 dairy cows demolishing all my very hard work.
DH didn't understand what all the fuss was, I could have very cheerfully murdered him and held a barbecue for the whole village!
It was heartbreaking so had to start all over again.

I can't see it! But do sympathise. I won't let mine out, but I have a friend whose new chickens have just eaten her entire newly planted garden. I told her to wait until the plants were bigger, but would she listen....

Thanks everyone - but another update:
Our chicken were out the other day and thought the new flowers were some tasty morsels, so petals everywhere grrr

Our Camellia has been gorgeous this year (3rd year) covered in blooms, jus starting to drop. Just planted a new one, couple of blooms, needs a couple of years to mature.

triciaF, that's good news. I'm very pleased with my camellia as well, its rallied after 12 months careful nurturing and is covered in blooms.

Good news. Nurture it through the summer in a shady corner and you'll have a fantastic plant this time next year.

An update - some of the buds have started to burst into flower
And there are a few new buds forming. Most of the brown ones have dropped off now.

Once again thanks for all the replies. There's so much gardening know-how on here.
I put this same question on a french gardening forum and got no replies!

I think the problem with east facing is the combination of frost and early sun, not a combination that we get every winter, after all for two years running my zonal geraniums have survived outside in tubs.
It is only the flower buds that are damaged, the plant should be happy anywhere given the right soil etc.

When we had a couple of really cold winters (about 5 yrs back) a lot of plants suffered that normally survive well. Interesting fact I picked up from the radio at the time - evergreens are much more vulnerable to low temperature than deciduous plants, which are fully dormant. If the soil freezes around the roots an evergreen tree gets dehydrated because it is still losing moisture through its leaves.
My tip is - moving a shrub in a pot as near as possible to the wall of the house might help, as heat escapes from a heated house .

We moved house a year ago and have an enormous camellia in a west-facing position, it is about 10ft high and 8ft across and started to flower this year at the end of February and has been absolutely stunning. There is another much smaller camellia about 12ft away from it and it looks very sorry for itself with lots of brownish buds and just a few flowers, I think I will try some camellia food and see if it improves.

I have a camelia on an east facing fence planted in fairly poor garden soil. When we came to the house three years ago, it looked poorly. I fed it with dilute camelia food and it is now very healthy, and last year and this it was full of flowers. Only problem this year is that they all seem to be at the back of the plant so not shown off to their best advantage. It's east facing situation does not seem to affect it at all. My neighbour has one also on an east facing fence and it is a monster.

The thing is that I should be hanging my head in shame , I had two lovely Camellias and lost them both due to not wrapping the tubs they were growing in . I had grown complacent due to mildish winters .

It is facing SE in fact, and will be easy to move.
We'll have to search for ericaceous compost tomorrow.

Also, as others have said East facing is a bad location, if you are not able to move it, try to shade it from early morning sun.