It sounds fun breeding camellias. How long does it take for the seedlings to bloom?

I don't know yet. Probably faster than rhododendrons - the first rhodie crosses I made in 2015, finally bloomed this spring! (one each of several from 2 crosses - I'm still waiting on a bunch of them) I made my first camellia cross 3 years ago. The plants are around about 20-24" tall now. I'm not aggressively fertilizing them because that seems to reduce the hardiness of borderline BLEs. But they've all been planted out in April of this year, and I'll give them a heavy feeding next spring. I expect at least some of them will then set buds, so I'll see flowers in spring 2026. So maybe about 5 years vs. 9 years. I suspect commercial breeders like Bobby Green can get it down to 3 years with heavy fertilizing, but that's just a hunch. Up here I'd have to leave the plants in a greenhouse to do that.

Dave, 5 years are still quite long time. But time goes fast without knowing. I shared a few wintersweet seedlings to friends 6 or so years ago and since last year people started reporting blooming.

I never tried crossing intentionally. All seedlings are self sowed. I noticed one spring blooming red camellia almost never had any seedlings, while others produce offsprings easily.

Wish yiu the best luck with your crossing effort

" Dave, 5 years are still quite long time." Yep, plant breeding is definitely not for the impatient!