Camelias

That was a lucky find. I bought one a few years ago and we've only ever had one flower. They do grow very slowly. I picked up a Hardy geraniums some years that had been thrown out and its still going strong.

We had an expensive one from Waitrose for Christmas. Seems fine, but I have just bought a beautiful one from Lidl for a quarter of the price. They have three colours available. If you want one, best to act quickly!

The best plant bargain I ever had was a clematis from Aldi for £1.49. From being a tiddly little specimen in a tiny pot, it eventually climbed up the house wall, over the porch and across and over the window. Flowered twice a year with huge saucer sized purple flowers. If I could have dug it up and taken it with me when I moved, I would have!

My last garden was almost entirely made from plants bought for pennies from the Casualty Shelves in the local garden centre. My best ever buy were dwarf rooting stock plum and cherry trees, £5 the pair!!

I think nurturing a sickly looking plant back to full health is more satisfying than buying a healthy one.

So agree about the satisfaction element, Coastpath. We have a 'save me' corner in local garden centre and I've had a few lovely successes there.

Fairfraise, if your camellia is slow growing and has only had one flower, there’s some wrong with it. They usually grow at least a foot per year. When do you prune yours? If you do it too late in the year, it won’t flower. They bloom on the previous season’s wood.

MiniMoon I suggest your husband asks the manager if he could rescue the plants going to be dumped. I have done this on numerous occasions when seeing plants being removed from display and have always been thanked for reducing the waste they have to pay to have removed. The ones with some life in them I try to resuscitate the rest go to build up my compost heap.

A worthwhile tip. Asda deliver flowers to their stores in black plastic tubs which are not reused and have to be dumped. Most flowers are sold at the weekend so if you pop in and ask nicely they are usually happy to give you a huge pile of tubs which make great plant pots once you drill a few holes in them.
My tomatoes do really well in the tallest ones.

That is beautiful, Minimoon. It is so sad to see these plants not being cared for, and much better to offer to take them home, rather than just dumping them. I love brining plants back to life. ?

bringing

I've got a pink one and it flowers really well.

I have a camellia in a pot. It seems healthy, is covered in flower buds but I only ever get one flower opening at a time, when one falls another bud opens. I would love a flush of blooms. Any suggestions?

teabagwoman is your camellia in ericaceous compost? Also, it's essential to feed potted camellias, using ericaceous feed. They need regular watering in the growing season and should not face East. The morning sun burns the leaves.
This is my camellia. It flowers in May.

Aldom it’s in ericaceous compost, I feed and water it as per the book and it faces east. I’m baffled and frustrated, would love it to look like yours.

I have quite a big camellia which was in the border when we came here six years ago. It has lovely glossy leaves and has grown since we moved in but has never flowered. Not even a bud. I’m thinking of trying digging some ericacious compost in around it in an attempt to get it to flower. No idea what else to do with it. Such a shame.

teabagwoman Actually facing East is bad for camellias. As I said in my post the morning sun burns the leaves. My camellia faces south and is in a sheltered position.

We bought the field behind our previous house, we decided to go to Brogdale for some apples and pears.
We found a bin, full of bare rooted, unlabelled trees. We got four apples, four pears and four plum trees for £15! We were delighted by the harvests.
Brogdale in Kent has the National collection of apples and pears and a fair number of plum/damson and cherries.

Just remember to dead head the moment the flowers start to turn brown and are easy to snap, not force ,off stem.
Plant in ericaceous soil and shrubs benefit a yearly dressing dressing of fallen leaves.

My camellia is not in ericaceous compost. Perhaps that's why it doesn't flower much. Thanks for the tips.

There's one in our front garden which the previous owner planted direct into the soil and it's doing fine. SE facing.
it's covered in dark red buds at the moment.

We've lived here for over 4 years. In previous gardens we've always had camellias. In our now south facing garden 3 we've put in have died, there is 1 left with a single flower bud on it.

There was a whole feature on camelias on Gardeners' World last night if anyone is interested.

Apparently you have to shake the bush twice a day to dead head the shrivelled brown bits.

I dare say the same would apply to camellias (ericaceous lovers) - my mother used to swear by saving tea leaves and applying round the base of her azaleas or lightly forking them in. Her azaleas were always absolutely covered in flowers.

I’ve often bought very sad looking, reduced-price plants, and nursed them back to health. I really hate seeing plants dying because nobody can be bothered to water them.
IMO there should be an RSPCP - Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Plants!