Most of my camellias bloom for about a month but others in different locales have mentioned their bloomage lasts longer. Of course, some times that happens when temperatures fluctuate too much, causing the plants to stop blooming for a month or so. I have some japonicas that normally bloom in December-Jan and on one year, they started as usual then stopped and started blooming back again in March!

Some names that others have recommended are Spring Promise, Daikagura, Shishi Gashira and Kanjiro. My Shish Gashira did not bloom long though.

I was thinking that you could send a GardenWeb Mail to longriver for suggestions in your neck of the woods. He lives in the SF Bay Area too and likes to hybridize.

Luis

If you're looking for prolonged bloom, you'll probably do better with a japonica (such as 'Prof Sargent') rather than a sasanqua (such as 'Fairy Blush' & 'Setsugekka'). If blooming season isn't your only criterion, though, sasanquas are wonderful garden plants.

'Elegans' is known as a long bloomer, & many of its sports (such as 'C M Wilson' & 'Grand Slam') also are supposed to have a long blooming season. As Luis said, 'Spring's Promise' has been mentioned as a marathon bloomer, & 'Daikagura' is a tried & true garden classic that also blooms early in the season. 'Joshua E Youtz' was originally called 'White Daikagura' & is also early, beautiful & blooms for months.

'Prof Sargent' has a reputation as a truly outstanding garden plant- I just planted one this fall, & he's establishing himself nicely, & getting ready to bloom. An article at SFGate mentions that the Prof blooms from Fall to Spring there.

'Nuccio's Bella Rossa' is also supposed to bloom for an unusually long time, & has a gorgeous flower, IMO; I'm a little bit in love with 'NBR Variegated'. Nuccio's isn't terribly close to SF, but if I lived anywhere on the West Coast, I'd consider a visit during blooming season just for the experience itself. Those folks know a few things about camellias, so even if you can't go, you may want to contact them for recommendations for your area.

I know SF has a public Japanese tea garden, but don't know much about their camellias- it might be worth a visit?

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: ACS Camellia Encyclopedia

Thank you!

Your location makes all the difference! Hopefully some from Bay area will chime in.

Sounds like you could go two routes.

1) Get varieties that bloom different times. For example, an early Fall bloomer, a Winter bloomer and a Mid- to late-spring bloomer.

2) Get varieties that each bloom over a long period. For example, in my region Spring's Promise will bloom from November thru into March. Not a huge show of blooms, but a nice handful with warm periods.

But my area gets very cold in winter and so performance would be very different than for you.

Bella Rossa blooms a long time with many flowers. The one I have started blooming over a week ago and will continue through to April.

oktobersky- that really IS a long blooming period. Thanks for the first-hand info.

One of these days, I'm going to track down a 'Bella Rossa Variegated'. It has my number and it's calling me.

Virginia

ok so this year my Bella started blooming a week ago..and I know it will keep going through April. It is up against a brick side of my house, I'm in zone 7B and it gets sun all year from 9 am to 3 pm.

My Camelia sasanqua "Beatrice Emily" started flowering at the end of september and now (10 nov) is still full of flowers..

My two longest-goers are both non-retic hybrids. My saluenensis hybrid version of Apple Blossom (not the sasanqua) started blooming c. 11/1 (now in full bloom- gorgeous) and regularly is still in bloom for our show in the second week of April. It is, of course, a big plant with lots of buds. Garden Glory is the other camellia I know that excels in a long run- it is in bloom now (in Portland, OR) and is capable of still producing blooms in May. While not the size of Apple Blossom, it's still about 6' and grows in quite a bit of shade. As part of this discussion, plant size and sun exposure, I feel, have to be considered as well as simply what variety is involved