There are two other ways to display the camellia bloom. It may be not practical for most camellia gardeners here in U S, One is Bonsai and the other, the whole pot of a camellia plant. Camellia in Taiwan paticularily are sold in Bonsai due to limited garden space and lots of high rise appartments.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:504463}}

Here is a Bonsai garden in Taiwan. It is very easy to place a blooming camellia in living room. You would have a chance to appreciate not only the flowers but the elegant branches, leaves, even root trunk as a whole natural construction.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:504467}}

a rather flat, shallow bowl is the classic way to display them in southern homes with just enough foliage on the stems to stabilize them. you don't always see the container if several cut flowers are included and overlap the sides but, if it is an especially beautiful piece of glass or ceramic/china, you might want that to be seen, as well.
as for preserving, have you heard of camellia waxing?
do a search on this forum for detailed instructions of that procedure.
most of mine only look good for a couple of days after cutting and placing in water. i just go cut some more! :-)

i prefer a low, wide display for camellias rather than an upright vase and tend to use this same piece for a grouping. it has scalloped edges which are perfect for holding the flowers in-place. you can't see the bowl but it is maybe 1.5" deep and longer than wide. with flowers, it's approx. 5" x 7", a good size for an end table or similar.
the second photo has some leaves from the alabama croton inserted. they are naturally that metallic color on the undersides so gave it a "holiday" look. (if it's really tacky, don't tell me...i was being creative *lol*)

{{gwi:504470}}


{{gwi:64079}}

I have never posted a comment on the web before, but am so excited about discovering this site!
I very often do flower arrangements for our church sanctuary with blooms cut from our yard. One of my favorites has been to cut camellias with long stems and arrange in a tall vase the same way you would roses. Afraid I am not sophisticated enough to remember the exact variety of this cammeliia - large red japonica is the best I can do. This also seems to encourage the growth and production of blooms on the plant as well. Every year it is fuller, with more blooms than the year before.

Forrestal:

Fantastic display !

What great inspiration for all of us who enjoy camellias indoors! Thank you for sharing.

Here is a helpful book, now out of print, but may be available through used book sources. It contains a lot of photos and illustrations.

{{gwi:504502}}

Here's an old thread I came across today when looking for ways to display picked camellias. I'm bumping it up as the camellias are blooming now.

I like old compote serving pieces. Glass or silverplate. The bowl is small and shallow and the piece itself has a tall or short stem with a pretty base. Sometimes you can find old potpourri holders from the 80s and 90s in flea markets or thrift shops that are decorative and have a little bowl shape that displays a camellia bloom well.

The florist item that is the plastic pointed tube with a rubber cap with a hole ( what is the proper name? ) that you push cut flowers into works very well and then you can insert the tube into greens or a potted fern or ivy and that is very pretty to bring inside and lasts a long time. That's what they like to use on the rose parade floats for all the roses and lilies and other fragile flowers.

I really like the idea of using potpourri holders. I don't usually do large or intricate arrangements- I just cut some camellias (on the diagonal!), and put them in a glass/vase/bowl with minimal arranging, but a potpourri jar sounds like it would be just as easy and tidier...

I think the plastic tubes are called water picks, if we're thinking of the same thing. That sounds like a great way to display camellias with foliage/ferns... Nice!

I have a question about these...a friend picked some yesterday for his wife, the stems were about 4" long, they still had leaves on them and were placed in a vase of water, this was around 4:00pm yesterday, and it did get cold last night ( Anniston, AL) and this morning all the flowers had fallen off the stems...like they were gently plucked off, with no wilting or discolorations at all...what could cause this?

The blooms were more mature than you/he realized. Next time try to find some that are newly opening so they will last longer.