Hello All,

This is a long delayed follow up to a post from 2011:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1781626/cuttings-first-winter-in-nyc

To summarize, I propagated some Camellia Japonicas from cuttings taken from a neighbor's shrub in 2011. Four have survived, with one in particular performing better than the others. In response my initial post, I was advised to dis-bud the cuttings. In the years since, I haven't bothered with dis-budding because the plants have rarely produced more than one or two buds. This year, however, the largest plant (which after all these years is barely 3 feet tall!) is producing a large number of buds and also more generally looks like it might finally be making steps toward becoming a mature plant. While I would be delighted to see the little plant in full bloom next spring, my main interest is its long-term success. So to the question in my heading: Should I remove the buds? Would doing so likely give it a better shot at becoming established?

I'm including a couple of images for reference. I know the one of the whole plant is a little difficult to make out against the background foliage but I think you get the idea.

Thanks in advance for any advice!