Carter`s Sunburst / by George Adams

Carter`s Sunburst is a beautiful flower............Interestingly , this is one of the few camellias in my yard that has some full sized flowers this year. But it also has some that were reduced by the cold of the past winter. So it has some big and also some little flowers on it this year

Nuccio`s Pearl / by George Adams

Last year it didn`t really bloom............but this year it has lots of flowers. But they are small

It is in a location that gets early morning winter sun. So the foliage is damaged, but not terribly

Mathotiana / by George Adams

Finally.......I think the camellias are going to bloom. Mathotiana is always one of the first. It is late. but as you can see in the photo, it is going to be covered with flowers.

Weird / by George Adams

Normally my camellias are in full bloom by now.Yet only Korean Fire has opened up so far. Camellias usually are opening at the same time as the Forsythia around here...........I have seen Forsythia blooming for more than a week now. Yet my camellias refuse to open up. What is going on? It has been cooler than normal, especially the beginning of spring. But it hasn`t been that cold, the temperatures arent too cold for camellias to flower. It hasn`t dropped below freezing since the end of March. What are they scared of ? The flower buds are not dead, They keep getting larger and showing color, but they just will not open.............Weird

Korean Fire / by George Adams

Korean Fire is one of my favorites. For it`s simplicity, back to the roots of a species camellia. The glowing red color and the beautiful vigorous growth habit.

Things are starting out slow this year , as most of March and still in April, it has been mostly below normal , temperature wise. Although the Korean fire plants in my yard started to open up in later March. It has only been one or two flowers, and they are of reduced size because of all the cold this winter.

Early Cold Snap

So much for a nice Fall for camellias. The last week was much colder than normal and as a result, my camellia flowers were destroyed. Unopened buds are still ok, but it is supposed to be cold again next week, so I can probably kiss them goodbye as well. ' Daikagura' has still not come into full flower.............it is a painfully slow opener. So I don`t know how it is going to end up. I am hoping it will eventually adjust itself and open sooner in the season. With normal temperatures it would still be ok........maybe some year we will have a season that stays near normal.

At any rate, the event left me with some interesting observations.

The open flowers are fine when the temperature drops to the upper 20`s at night.

But light colored flowers get ruined if it goes to the lower 20`s . However darker colored flowers can still be ok at this temperature. I`m sure it depends on the duration of the cold.

Basically if the temperature goes below 20 and into the teens, your flowers are toast.

Unopened buds, that are in the process of opening still look alright, slightly damaged, but minimally.

I am also sure all of this varies from plant to plant. So these are just generalizations.

George

Showa-no-sakae / by George Adams

Showa-no-sakae is finally blooming , It put out a few flowers a couple of weeks ago. But now it has many flowers. Luckily it has not gotten cold enough to damage the flowers yet.