Camelias

My camellia, facing north-west, had no flowers for years. I said to it "If you don't flower next year, out you go!". The result: covered in lovely pink flowers the following year.

An elderly neighbour gave me good advice when I got our camellias. He said the reason never to plant on an East facing patch was because the buds form early and are often affected by frost over the Winter/early Spring - and if they are open to the early morning sun they often thaw too quickly and drop off. Also, to prune after flowering (they flower on last year's growth) and to make sure that they never go short of water when the buds are forming (which is actually back in the previous Summer!) Need feeding in the Spring (blood, fish & bone, or a specialised ericaceous feed). I've followed his instructions to the latter and our two camelllias are covered in flowers every year.

I bought a 99p Hydrangea from B&M about 6 years ago. It was just a stick and I was a bit embarrassed when I potted by the side of my front door but within a few weeks it bushed out and produced beautiful large white flowers. Still going strong and attracting compliments from all who visit.

Yes, my dog ?

It's shocking what supermarkets still throw away! I've often seen the 'dying/un-wartered' plants outside and it makes me both sad and angry at the waste!

We rescued a climbing rose and a lavender from a bin outside B&Q, they were labelled 'free to good home'. They looked very dead. Four years later they're beautiful strong plants.

We have two pink Camelias in our front garden which faces north and east. They grow under an open spreading pine tree so any sun they get is filtered. One of them flowers profusely each year but the other one barely manages two flowers, if we're lucky.

My mum had a gorgeous camellia she got as a tiny plant from morrisons, I bought one from them too and it is doing really well
If you pay for a bigger one you will get a bigger plant and more flowers, but sometimes our local waitrose has reductions on their plants

My oldest friend lives in Hampshire. She's a very keen gardener and a lover of camellias. She has at least thirty five of them. An array of different colours and various flowering times. By her back door is a large container, into which the tea pot is emptied. As another poster has mentioned, camellias seem to like tea.

This one was in the garden when we moved here almost 40 years ago. I do cut it back every now and then, because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see out of the kitchen, but it flowers profusely, and is always in bloom on Christmas Day. I don’t drink tea, but do give it coffee grounds fairly frequently.

We moved into our house 16 years ago and there was a very small Camelia plant already there which only had one flower on it. It's been like that every year, one flower a year and hardly growing at all, until last year when we had two flowers. This year it has grown about 3 feet and is covered in buds. Nothing has changed, we haven't moved it or fed it, it's just been there all this time and suddenly this year decided to get a grow on. So don't be too disheartened if you don't get many flowers on yours, who knows what it might look like in a few years time?

Once bought for 10p a bag of half-dead unmarked corms.
DD planted them and we had a border of beautiful freesias. My late father who was a very keen gardener was really upset he could never get them to grow even in the greenhouse.

camellias need rain water - butt water not tap water as all ericaceous plants need. |I have always been a champagne gardener on beer money , and have always been delving into the sad ends of things but I rescued a dead looking witch hazel and loved and nurtured it and ended up with a wonderful shrub/bush with wonderful yellow perfumed flowers on it . It is pallida I think. they cost about £40 a plant and I paid £1 and a lot of nurturing. the other thing for gardeners is the wonderful NGS scheme, these are gardens open for charity ranging from 3 little terrace gardens in a row to a grand nat trust garden. You can just follow the bright yellow signs and pay about £5 to see a wonderful garden of a great range, where you will get ideas and may be able to buy plants from some keen gardener that you would never find in a shop . sSo I am a galanthophile which is snowdrops and had 70 different varieties in my last garden. So any keen gardener who collects many of a specific variety that you wont find in a shop so you may have the pleasure of finding a special flower to add to your garden, as gardeners we want to spread these plants to keep them going so if something disastrous happens in your garden the fact that someone else will have a couple of plants elswehere keeps them all going. Treat yourself to the book which is about £14 I think now and that tells you all the gardens open in England and Wales. On miserable nights in a lot of pain I enjoy looking up gardens and thinking of visiting them. I take the book in the car with me whereever I go and there are some where you can ring and visit by appointment and so if you are travelling around or for work or whatever I try to give about 3 days notice and ask if it is convenient to come. I have had wonderful times taken round the garden on my own by the owner and seen all sorts of places. these people may be waiting for an operation or something and cannot commit to a set day but are prepared to organise visits like this. I have loved doing this for more than 30 years and have met many fascinating gardens and gardeners. Hope you all get to see some of these wonderful gardens and it brightens life and cheers things to know that however the bills rise the garden whether it is one small pot or a huge orchard will give you all joy and peace.

Dumpster diving is definitely the cheapest way to stock your garden. Often the bigger supermarkets and DIY stores can't maintain their stock to saleable quality and throw out rescuable items. Our local B&Q is more than happy to be relieved of said items!

We had two at a previous house and they both had lots of buds which dropped off before flowering. A relative we used to visit in Canada had a huge one by her front door and it was covered in flowers; we asked her how she cared for it and she replied she didn’t really, just cut it back every so often. We haven’t tried to grow them again, perhaps we should have another try as they are beautiful.

I have a huge collection of camellias :
Some are over 6 ' high and are over 35 years old .
I prune them straight after flowering .
Those in pots do not do as well as those planted out .
If the roots are constained they will have a Bonsai effect on the plant .
Plant in peat free ericaceous compost ,don't allow to dry out and use rain not tap water .

Feed with an ericaceous fertiliser once or twice a year .
If I see any weakness or yellowing I increase the fertiliser.

Occasionally, camellias get a black mould /fungus
covering the leaves.
This is usually caused by rainwater dripping off trees so I prune the offending tree back .
It washes off easily with a mixture of Epsom salts dissolved in water applied on a fresh sponge .
Water pooling on leaves and exposed to bright sun can cause scorching .
If you prune incorrectly - at the wrong time of year you are removing flower buds .

I recommend Bowl of Beauty ,Donation and Debbie as prolific producers of flowers .

I did the same with a camelia. Son moved to a new house. Previous owner left some pots one with a "stick" and label for a camelia. DIL wanted all the pots cleared but I took the one with the stick. 3 years trying different positions in garden but two years ago the plant just came to life, obviously found its perfect place. Beautiful pink flowers when in bloom.

Lulubelle500 I k ow exactly what you mean ,we have a great long front garden with lots of interesting stuff in it and our young neighbours have plain as they're working hard and not really gardeners, they always say how lovely it is to be able to share our garden! I was touched by their comment and glad they had shared our great view!

Lulubelle500

One of the joys of living in a terraced house is you get to enjoy your neighbours' gardens as well as your own. At this time of year my neighbour on one side has an enormous magnolia tree that has just burst into glorious creamy life, the neighbour the other side's fence is a froth of pink camellias. I have a row of rhododendrums and azaleas in various pinks just about to burst. In the Summer my roses are fabulous but it's the Spring flowers I always enjoy after Winter.

Ha ha! That's lovely to share the beauty but I thought you were gonna say you have two old armchairs and a massive German shep named Sheba in yours !!???

I spent quite a sum on two beautiful azaleas and potted In Ericacious in large pots. Flowered amazingly well , year two? Went on holiday expected to see in full bloom on return and - some little *#@\#@ had obviously booted a large ball into the heart of the pot splitting off both completely at the bases!!!!! Ded as two ded things , brown , crispy, ded........ Of course no public flogging as no perp. Ever found! Never replaced, I saw it as a sign from the garden pixies not to bother!

One of the joys of living in a terraced house is you get to enjoy your neighbours' gardens as well as your own. At this time of year my neighbour on one side has an enormous magnolia tree that has just burst into glorious creamy life, the neighbour the other side's fence is a froth of pink camellias. I have a row of rhododendrums and azaleas in various pinks just about to burst. In the Summer my roses are fabulous but it's the Spring flowers I always enjoy after Winter.

I rescued a bay tree from my garden centres discount dept ( we call it A&E) it was virtually ded with a scrubbly bit of a trunk and bare branches, I potted it up and 15 years on its still small! But it produces a wealth of lovely foliage, and as a sweetmbay I dry the leaves and use in cooking! I was heartily shocked to see one very similar in state to mine recently priced at £50+!!! Whaaa? Where DO they get their prices from!! I also rescued a scrawny little golden evergreen which has grown well and a couple years ago I topiaried it Into a spiral! Costume £3 worth ow? About £400 according to online topiary sellers!!!! Crazy!

Sorry, I got my east and west muddled up, it’s definitely west facing. Am going out to shake it and will start saving my tea leaves.

For the most part, I only buy the reduced bedraggled plants which other people forego. There is something very satisfying when you can return them to their former glory.
I particularly love camellias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas but they do not thrive quite so well in our garden without a lot of help. Perhaps I should move to Surrey!

Mine are just opening this week, they are never spectacular, the soil is not really acid enough but they are trying

Used to work for B&Q, bought loads of their reduced plants/seeds/bulbs, most are still going. The garden centre staff always told us gardeners when things were about to be chucked. Same with indoor plants

I dare say the same would apply to camellias (ericaceous lovers) - my mother used to swear by saving tea leaves and applying round the base of her azaleas or lightly forking them in. Her azaleas were always absolutely covered in flowers.

I’ve often bought very sad looking, reduced-price plants, and nursed them back to health. I really hate seeing plants dying because nobody can be bothered to water them.
IMO there should be an RSPCP - Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Plants!