All right! Looks like the bud at the bottom of the pic will open next, doesn't it? Much bigger than the others...

and some more..

these would be my first choice plant-if they grew well here, we have gumbo soil that's very alkaline and i've killed a couple of dozen different plants, but they are gorgeous.....

thanks, these are ShiShiGashira.. I have 4 along a back fence that will look amazing when they grow up and larger.
I will get some pictures of Bonanza tomorrow but the nursery de-budded them so only one plant has a few buds on it, and only one or two blooms out right now.

Beeeautiful ! X

only one Bonanza bloom. it's a very similar color to my ShiShi.. hope I got the right plant :)

Yeah, they are similar, color wise... Looks nice!

I did some watering yesterday and a new bloom came out ! This Bonanza bloom is so far my favorite bloom on all my sasanquas..

same Bonanza bloom.. today it is a very dark pink and quit large as well. I love the look, just wish I had more blooms!

More Bonanza blooms = something to look forward to next year...

I really like how Shi Shi's leaves are so sharply serrated. The edges almost look like a bread knife... Bonanza's foliage doesn't look quite the same; the serration isn't quite as pronounced, and the leaf tips aren't as pointed. It will be interesting to watch how their growth patterns differ as they grow.

Cheers,

Virginia

Gorgeous! I love having flowers that bloom in the colder months.

Your plants will get better and better each year!

No blooms yet but please welcome the new japonica addition ! I saw it and just had to :) Morning Glow

The name does not ring a bell. What is it supposed to be like?

ita in the Monrovia they collection. Thry say a vigorous upright grower with white peony like blooms. I think it will be a good contrast to the pink and more open bloom of my shishi's that are also around the backyard. can't wait until they bloom, the nursery didn't de-bud these so I'll be seeing some soon!
oh and my shishi's made it through last week's dips. I forgot to cover them at night so I thought the buds nay have froze.. bur it looks like they just stopped and with the temps now, they have started back! I hope both of these two varieties will have a little overlap

here is the pic

Very nice. It resembles a white one I have by the name of White By The Gate. Did you buy locally? Sometimes, I wish I could have bought some of the selections in the Monrovia website. The local nurseries tend to bring the same usual tired varieties and have been awful if I try to special order.

I agree they would look nice if weather would somehow help them bloom at the same time but I am not sure they will. :o( When I went to Monrovia to look at MG, the information said that MG blooms late winter to early Spring while Bonanza usually blooms in the Fall. So I doubt they will bloom at the same time. But, maybe with the right conditions, a long, cold (but not too cold) spell in the Fall might make Bonanza temporarily stop blooming for a long while ... and then it restarts just as MG is also about to start! Oh, one can wish! Right? That would be nice.

I have had these blooming interruptions before and the longest one went from sometime in December (when the plants started/stopped blooming) to March (when they restarted blooming). At the time when that long interruption happened, I only had japonicas though. I doubt you might get one that starts in the Fall and lasts thru the end of winter. Oh well. Maybe in the next ice age.. Ha! ;o)

Yea luckily i have one nursery that is always really good with camellias. They always have good selection and very good quality. I know they are a japonica so the bloom times will be off, i wanted to get another one or two but I think the space is really only meant for one. Good thing is, you can see it right center from the back window so when it does bloom it hopefully will put on a good show!

Did I get two camellias ??

Hard to tell unless you very carefully dig in between the two... I happened to see that once and it was just one (in my case).

Odd. I think I'll just plant it, I don' want to mess up the roots if it is in fact,just one tree.

Stay tuned for new blooms soon, hopefully

Well, check it out carefully... so as not to disturb the roots too much.

First Japonica !!!
I am not sure what it is, but I love when this tree blooms. It puts on a great show

This is a tough plant to care for . Even for the most gifted Green Thumbs out there.

Can I grow camellia in full shade?

I have some of mine in bright but full shade.

second bloom from this japonica , very pink this year. I remember last year being a little more red. pretty though!

Morning Gem had its first bloom today !

Nice. Reminds me of blooms from White By The Gate. I was hand watering yesterday when temps got to 72 (but they are crashing as we speak). I wanted to hand water before the 'down spike' today and tomorrow. I noticed that some (majority?) of WBTG's buds were brown from last month when the temps got to 13. Some of those brown buds did die but a small nbr are now blooming. Non-injured buds opened and look nice. A few partly injured buds who now opened look ugly on the edges and nice in the center... probably a few petals in the buds were damaged but not all.

Even discovered a bulging bud about to open in a sasanqua !!! that had already bloomed in the Fall (Nov?) ... but ironic, hu? late bloom about to open as the temps crash again. Only saw that one lonely single bloom on that one sasanqua. ;o(

Stopped by a local nursery that was packed full of many japonicas. Has a nice Lady Vansittart, striped pink, but no open blooms yet. I may get Stars Stripes instead but I may also wait to see LVs blooms to see if they match what is o the plant label photo. Of course, who knows now if the buds will open. It should go down to 28F so maybe the buds will not brown out.

With good temps today it seems my Morning Gem bloomed out a beautiful flower..

Shishi still going strong !

You may end of with a pinkish snow look under the shrub at this rate!

Morning Gem has been holding on to this bud for a while now.. for some reason.. but it just bloomed the last bud.

Cool. I celebrated my last bloom about a week or so ago.