Very nice bloom, Virginia. Lucky you!!! Winter's Charm has been giving me little sporadic bloomage this season but I tend to discover them by accident and when the blooms are going downhill.

But, your comment about posting pictures reminded me that I need to get a digital camera one of these days. In general, all my other camellias have the bloom spigot 'turned off' for the time being.

Enjoy your blooms and thanks for the pictures!

I like the shape of this bloom. What type is this?
Marty

Hi Marty- the name of the camellia is 'Sweet Jane'. It's a hybrid camellia from Australia, and has charming, small flowers, and lots of them...

The leaves are also on the small side, so the effect is a bit "shrubbier" than for japonicas with their larger leaves. The plant itself can get fairly large, like most camellias- it isn't a miniature plant.

Best regards,
Virginia

Luis, I'm sorry to hear you don't have much blooming just now. Here's a photo of a 'Debutante' from the neighborhood...

May the spigot soon be turned on again,
Virginia

Here's another camellia photo- it's an oldie (about 60 years old) that was either unnamed to begin with, or it might be an old lost variety. I have several plants that have flowers like this- pink ruffles with red stripes, white blotches and bright yellow stamens. It's a cheerful bloom even with no name...

I haven't been able to find any photos of camellias in commerce that look like this, but feel free to name it if you think you recognize it.

Virginia

..oh I think that's lovely Virginia...as are the others here, it almost goes without saying.... I'd love to know the name of that one too....so pretty with the ripple effect at the edges....

...I have a few of my own coming along.... I might manage a photo tomorrow, but mine are later to flower mostly....

...I've been disappointed with my 'Jury's Yellow' - only 3 flowers...I must have omitted to water last summer during dry spells.... it's a shame as I really do like this one...

Marlorena, how old is your 'Jury's Yellow'? It may just need a bit more maturity? Or- if it's an established plant that usually blooms more- yeah, more summer watering, please! Or sometimes the problem is not enough light.

I've noticed that some camellias aren't consistent with bloomage from year to year, and if you have a heavy bloom one winter, the plant is less generous the next season.

Here's another old unknown from our yard... I've wondered if it might be 'Mathotiana Supreme' or 'Kumasaka', but I wasn't able to convince myself on either score.

Looking forward to any photos you might feel like posting!

Virginia

..gosh you've got some lovely Camellias Virginia...I wouldn't know that variety..... my Jury's Yellow was new last year and of course it flowered really well having been grown on by the nursery, so maybe it's having a quiet season whilst it develops...lots of vigorous shoots appearing so definitely going to get a lot bigger this year.... it's in a large container, I have other Camellias nearby that are in full bud, so I can't think I neglected the watering as they are also in pots around my driveway.....so just have to wait another year I suppose....

... we tend to grow Williamsii or Japonica's here, less so Sasanqua's...

..I've only got 6 Camellias, 2 in the ground, 4 in pots.... I can just about grow them on my neutral soil with amendments....

..this is Camellia jap. 'Deep Secret'... when I first got it a few years ago, it's in the ground now and has masses of buds for this year....so looking forward to that... sometimes the frost gets to them... I enjoy the deep red flower very much with yellow stamens... it's an offspring of the better known 'Bob Hope'....

..from a previous year, this huge flower on 'Donation' .... I have this in a pot too and it's full of buds for this season, so another photo later on...

'Deep Secret' again, from last year....this will flower for me in March/April...

..this one below is 'J.C. Williams'...and was my favourite,....unfortunately I lost it to the weather..or wet rot, one winter.... it's not as hardy here as some others.... I should have put it in the ground, it might have survived...

Marlorena, those are lovely- I especially like 'Deep Secret', but I have a thing for dark red flowers in general... And I'm always happy to see a pretty photo of 'Donation'.

'JC Williams' is one I hadn't seen before, but I like it very much, so you have my condolences on its passing. Possibly, it would have done better in the ground, as you speculated. Not to be an enabler or anything, but if it was your favorite, I think you should try again.

Cheers,

Virginia

...I think you're right too Virginia.... we'll see....I'd love to have it back... but roses have taken over right now....as far as available earth is concerned...

... more photos to follow later, from here, yourself and others | hope...

Marlorena, your comment reminds me of a plan I had to plant shade-tolerant roses amongst my camellias. I'm not sure it would work, but I'm not completely sure that it would fail. Once our hot, muggy summers get underway, most plants do want a bit more shade than they might want elsewhere...

I'm including some photos I took last week when I went out to Johns Island to see what was blooming there.

Here's a photo of 'Governor Mouton'- he often has these solid red flowers amongst the more usual variegated ones, and when the plant's flowers are all red like this one, it's called 'Aunt Jetty'.

The Governor is one of those hardier japonicas that get on with blooming sooner after a freeze than most camellias. The form of this flower was so lovely that I had to post it, though the variegated flowers are more typical, and usually more impressive.

Here is a 'Lady Van Sittart' photo:

She got a bit brown with the recent cold, but she's a lovely thing, nevertheless.

And here's a pair of 'Herme' (more correctly called 'Hikarugenji') flowers:

A less famous camellia is 'Roosevelt Blues Var'- this bloom was past it's prime, but you can see that it is a handsome camellia anyway:

The breeder was not a fan of Roosevelt, and possibly didn't patricularly like the purple/blue tones of this flower, so the name was meant to be derogatory. But I'm quite fond of purple-ish camellias, so I'm planning to try to get cuttings from this plant.

The last photo for this post (and it's so nice to be able to attach multiple photos to a post!) is of a 'Miss Charleston Var' that was blooming in a greenhouse:

The color is slightly off- she's more of a dark-red "in person".

Hope y'all enjoy these... I also took some photos of unnamed seedlings that were also blooming, and will post those separately.

Virginia

I was so sure I already posted the seedling photos earlier, but maybe I didn't hit submit?

Starting over... here are some photos of volunteer camellias that I think are rather nice:

You can't tell from the picture, but the camellia in the second photo has charming, miniature blooms.

Virginia

Virginia, those are just stunning.... 'Auny Jetty'....I mean, that's just gorgeous... that would be my favourite of the lot.... and of those volunteers (I'm not familiar with 'volunteer camellias' exactly].... the 3rd one down, pink/mauve colour..... I love that....

..I also have 'Lady Van Sittart' but mine isn't quite ready to flower yet, another couple of weeks or so I think... it's just about my favourite and it flowers right into June here.... nearly all the flowers are somewhat variable including like the one you've shown above...I also get some that sport to 'Yours Truly'.... but most have the standard white with raspberry ripple effect to varying degrees..... hope to have some photos of mine shortly.......

..oh ! those photos.... to me Camellias are like Spring roses...

..more please...whenever...

Camellia japonica 'Deep Secret'....

Hi Marlorena-

That 'Deep Secret' is pretty gorgeous.

A volunteer camellia is just one that plants itself and grows... a seedling. Only when I think of seedlings, I'm not usually thinking of camellias that are a good bit taller than me... But the second batch of photos are of no-name seedling camellias, not named cultivars.

I wish I had more photos to upload, but I don't just now. Maybe someone else will post some photos...?

Take care,

Virginia

no blooms yet on my one year old Camellia Sinensis Large leafs i have been growing from seed, its going to be some time before they do. here's a link to my youtube with some episodes that they are in. TheItalian Garden

My Camellia 'Lady Van Sittart' is now in bloom and I do love these, although they are susceptible to frost damage, the buds get brown spots which ruins the appearance completely. These early flowers seem to have largely escaped and with warmer weather due, I should get a nice display over the coming weeks...

Camellias · More Info

Camellias · More Info

Camellias · More Info

Camellias · More Info

Very nice blooms, especially at this time of the year. The shade of pink remind me of another camellia, s striped one called Eleanor McCown that died because I planted it in a direct line of sight between my dogs and the neighborhood squirrels. Hee hee hee.

The brown spots sound like a case of petal blight. You may want to regularly pick up fallen petals and dispose of them in the trash (as opposed to the compost pile). Some people also apply foliar fungicide to attack the sclerotium that the fungus leaves behind from season to season around the base of the flowers.

I love Sweet Jane, though mine has developed leaves that look like they've been sand-blasted - yet to do anything about this, and suggestions very welcome.

Another Australian bred camellia I have and love is Paradise Blush. Very hardy, fast growing and long flowering. The outer petals are reddish, and the inner petals are white.

I did a search in yahoo.com looking for 'camellia sweet jane pictures' and got quite a few nice ohhh-ahhh photos of the bloom in all stages of development. I agree with your comment... that SJ must be a keeper. PB looks more blush and reminds me of a sasanqua but, gosh, I can't remember the name (Lee Ann maybe? Lee something? something like that perhaps???). How long do the Sweet Jane blooms last?

I always have difficulty determining how long blooms last here because cold weather rears its ugly head while the camellias are blooming so they take a month or two months break before continuing so who knows how long it lasts. White by the Gate just finished blooming (xpt for 1-2 blooms) and Winter's Charm finished about a week ago. Prof Sargent and Kramer Supreme still have a few but should be done this week or so.

The sand blasting sounds like it is a scale insect problem (sometimes called 'tea scale' or 'camellia tea scale'). I get that scale with some Satsuki azaleas here sometimes but not so far with the camellias. Insecticidal sprays will take care of the insect when it is newly born but this requires that you keep an eye on the leaves (ck under the leaves). Several generations can develop on a single growing season. Once the insect is older, you have to use much stronger insecticides like Orthene or Cygon. It is best to begin an insecticidal spray regimen around the months of March & April (hmm... I am assuming you are in the US and not in Australia by the way). Spray both sides of the leaves and the stems if practical (I know, difficult on camellia trees).

luis, thanks for the information on petal blight....I wasn't aware of that, always blaming it on frost, as some years are much better than others, so I shall take your advice and remove the spent flowers. I find most of the buds are affected and it's spoiling my appreciation of this bush, which at its best can be quite wonderful....

Thanks luis. I am in Australia, so will spray in Spring. Paradise Blush definitely has white inner petals, and the blooms are cupped. It really is a lovely shrub.

Marlorena, your 'Lady Van Sittart' is beautiful. I love her elegant leaves almost as much as her variable blooms...

I don't see a lot of brown spots in the photos, but if you're like me, you'd probably just take pix of the cleanest blooms... I would do a Google image search for camellia petal blight to see if you think it's the right diagnosis. It may just be cold damage, and there's not much to be done about that.

Luis is right, though, that's it's generally a good idea to discard the spent blooms just in case. And if it is petal blight, there's a lot of good info online about how to keep it from spreading.

Thanks for the photos,

Virginia

..thanks Virginia... I've been checking this out, and apparently petal blight on Camellia's is a notifiable disease...there is an address on the RHS site that one is supposed to report this to... however, I'm not convinced that's what it is at this stage..as it seems to affect only the outer petals, and it says that it can easily be confused with frost damage.... I'd rather believe that's what it is, for now...

..last year, we had a mild wet winter, hardly any frost, like a zone 9... there was no issue with the blooms and the plant looked fantastic for weeks... this winter we've had lots of frost, not that cold, but enough... and now I have this problem on quite a few of the flowers...... so for now, I'm thinking it's frost... but I shall monitor and to be perfectly honest, if I get this repeatedly, I'm doing away with the plant... which will be a shame, but it's like black spot with roses, if I get too much the rose is gone I'm afraid...

..I shall continue to discard spent blooms.... the Camellia is, overall, looking quite good at the moment, and of course you are absolutely correct in that one tends to take photos of only the best blooms.... dare we do otherwise.... kind regards,....

..japonica 'Lady Van Sittart' again, looking much better now... the problem earlier must have been frost damage I think.... I do love this bush when it's in full flush, on a sunny day...

I'm glad the brown spots were probably just frost damage. A few brown spots from cold are not all that attractive, but petal blight is really ugly. I hope you don't ever have to deal with it.

Your Ladyship is looking mighty fine in those photos- I love how variable her blooms are and how distinctive her leaves are. I don't have that camellia yet, but I will some day!

In the meantime, I enjoy looking at yours- thanks!

Virginia

..thanks Virginia...

..'Spring Festival'.... I first saw this in a garden formerly owned by Agatha Christie, but I doubt she planted it... but I had to have one.... a very narrow upright grower which broadens out with age, and looks best with bluebells and suchlike...

quite dainty little flowers, like a small 'Donation'...

Marlorena, that looks great with the lattice/trellis thingy behind it, and the complementary plantings.

'Spring Festival' is a camellia that I've often admired in photos, but I don't think I've ever met it 'up close and personal'. Clearly, it is happy where it is.

Thanks,

Virginia

I am new to this forum but I thought you might like to see a special camellia (reticulata) that I acquired last year. The name is Lee Roy Smith. What is unusual is the variegation looks like frosting on the petals.

Hunter - President
Northshore Camellia Club
Covington LA

..thanks Virginia, I love that Camellia for so many reasons...

..Hunter, how unusual is that? very nice indeed... hope to see more from you....

Very nice, Hunter! How big would you say the bloom is and when does it bloom for you? Last question, do you have a picture of the flowering shrub?

This reticulata was about 5 1/2 to 6" across. It bloomed in early March but our blooming season was very late this year due to some early freezes. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the bush but it is a young plant of 2 -3 years still in a pot container. I have about 300 different varieties so I have more photos to share if there is interest. Glad you all liked the bloom.

Here is another reticulata known as Frank Houser along with pictures of the bush. Bush pictures are about 5 years apart. This flower blooms in Jan-Feb. Large blooms usually around 6". It also comes as a variegated flower.

Hunter, those are lovely camellias, and I like the "time-lapse photographs" of 'Frank Houser'... I find it helpful to see how a camellia shrub grows and fills out over time, and that's a nice specimen.

I'm sure we would all like to see more photos as you find it convenient to post some. Now that our camellia season is pretty much done, it will be nice to have some flowers to look forward to online.

Thanks,

Virginia

Virginia, I am glad you like the photos. Here is one of my favorite japonicas called Dixie Knight Supreme. Known as a medium size camellia, mid season to late blooming, compact upright growth with oval serrated mid-green foliage, and a vigorous growth rate. There are a couple of different virus strains that may change the variegation in the flower. It is a delightful flower with great color.

Very pretty- I do like those variable variegations in a camellia... who wants all the flowers to look like each other?!

Thanks again,

Virginia