Boy - I'm really concerned about these temps. I was going to plant my new April Dawn in my garden next spring but I don't know if I should. Maybe I should keep it in for one more year. You are having similar temps as ours - minus 5 is pretty deep. This area is experiencing waaaay below freezing temps for at least another week - after New Year's. I am not sure that we have gone that low however. Bill's comments are really enlightening - the on and off warm to cold. Terribly hard on plants. His nice big camellia really took a hit. That concerns me to put out a young 14 incher into that kind of situation. I will keep this post for future reference. Good luck with your camellias!!! Thanks very much.

Right now, all of my camellias look OK. But it is only when the warmer temps begin that winter damage shows up. Green, healthy foliage now can turn brown later. However, all of my camellias have survived pretty cold winters. Last winter, if anyone recalls, we had a long mild spell. It wasn't all that cold even into January. But on Valentine's Day, we suddenly dropped to -9! As bad as that low temperature was, I think it was even worse with the sudden change. The plants hadn't had enough time to acclimate to the cold. And, a couple of days later, we had temps in the low 50's! My plants came through fine, although many of the buds were damaged. We'll see how things are in a couple of months.

From various internet sources, I have accumulated these notes:

The 'regular' camellia plants usually survive occasional temperatures as low as +10 degrees to 0 degrees F. Camellia flower buds are damaged at temperatures between +10 degrees to +15 degrees F or lower. Open camellia blossoms normally are damaged at temperatures between +26F degrees to +28F degrees or lower. Very late blooming camellias, like the April Series, can handle colder temps.

Take them all with a grain of salt as no one has ever done scientific research on what certain temps and weather conditions do. I have had camellias when temps crashed to +5F and they survived so the suggestion of plant damage can occur between (or lower than) +10F and 0F may need "tweaking". Or maybe it happens only to selected camellias. I can confirm from experience that the flower buds have issues when temps go below +15F in my neck of the woods. I have not paid attention to temps when open flowers are damaged so I cannot confirm or deny the suggested range of +26F to +28F (or lower) causing damage to the open flowers. But somewhere around the freezing mark makes some sense.

Micro-climates, locations that protect from winds/morning sun, mulch, deep watering
prior to cold spells (assuming the ground has not frozen)... all of those can also
help.

Reading material: https://www.camforest.com/category_s/57.htm

Micro-climates, locations that protect from winds/morning sun, mulch, deep watering prior to cold spells (assuming the ground has not frozen)... all of those can also help.

I think that this input will help!! Micro-climates being the most interesting variable. It definitely states -- not one size fits all -- something we need to keep in mind in most plant situations. Thanks again.

luis-pr you don't mention what varieties of Camellia you have had experience with. Mine are all the "April" series, japonica types which have been bred for colder climates such as my zone 6, and one fall blooming one called "Snow Flurry" which is a sasanqua. So my experience for fifteen years growing these has shown me that it really depends on the exact hybrid. I can not grow the vast majority of Camellias here, but there are more cold-hardy types being introduced all the time. The spring blooming types can still suffer bud damage in a severe winter here, but the plants survive even when the buds are damaged. So for cold New England it's the best I can hope for, and maybe a mild winter will allow a nice flowering show in spring. The fall blooming one is never a problem and always is full of flowers in October through November, sometimes even into December.

Hello, bill_ri_z6b. Yeah, I already looked at Dr. Park's April Series, Dr. Ackerman's Winter & Ashton Series and Morris Series. Checked a few Camforest introductions too. Eventually, I decided against them as they bloom when I already have azaleas, hydrangeas and roses blooming. So it was not worth getting late blooming camellias that would occupy the already scarce shady spots and produce blooms while these other plants were also blooming. Thus, I decided to add "sasanquas" of all types. Only have bought a single sasanqua in the last two years. And a hybrid. I have had some before (Yuletide, Kanjiro, Shishi and Taylor's Perfection) but either killed them most or moved. Only have TP and from the Winter Series, I have Winter's Charm. WC blooms quite early for me and TP blooms in Dec or so like Yuletide. I may get a Stars and Stripes next (I like striped blooms) or Mieko Tanaka (a new early flowering red like Yuletide). I had an Eleanor McCown that sported a branch which, to me, looked very good with the normal/sport-ed EM blooms. ;o) Hope you have a mild winter and a nice flowering show!

You are in a much warmer place than I am. Must be nice to have all those choices. I went out yesterday and saw my "Frostproof" gardenia was all brown. I've had it for about five years and it was maybe two feet by two feet. I hope it will at least come back from the lower woody parts.

It does but I got rid of mine. Someone near my sister's previous home has a very large gardenia (not Frotproof) and I got tired of it growing poorly for me here on the ground.

In Rhode Island you should start with hybrids of C. oleifera, like 'Survivor'.