I Love Camellias

[Tamtarn]

Thought this flower on one of our new Camellias looked a little special with the raindrops.

Taken yesterday. No zoom no processing no cropping just framed as taken with my trusty little Sony DSC-P73. :)


27848


Barb

[erick]

That's a handsome flower - not a speck of imperfection! Thanks!

[Dujon]

That is so pretty, Barb. Thanks for posting it. My wife has gone a'shopping at the moment but I'll be revisiting your image when she returns.

Should you happen to return before she does, do you know what type it is? Camellia Coco Chanelle doesn't sound quite right and, relative to me, she's an expert on these things.

[astroron]

Lovely image Barb.

[circumpolar]

Nice picture.

Camellia japonica 'Desire' if anyone is wondering.

BTW, I'm a Camellia expert.

[Tamtarn]

Yes it is Desire I didn't think to mention that.........Thanks Matt " Camellia Expert " :thumbsup:

We planted it last week, it's only a small plant a metre high and has quite a few buds. The photo is of the first flower to bloom. The flowers are really large 11.5cm in diameter
We already have lots of different camellias but this one is quite spectacular.

Thanks Eric and Ron for taking the time to comment.



John I think it's time to take the wife shopping ....... this time to a nursery ;)

[Dujon]

Come on, Barb, that'd be like taking me to a 'scope shop. :lol:

At the moment (at least at last count) we have ten quadrillion plants in a 900 sq m plot (including the house - though that doesn't grow). She is a mad gardener and a horticulturist to boot. Poor me!

Thanks to the two of you for the description - I will now feel not-so-much-a-fool when I show her your image, Barb. :rolleyes:

[jjjnettie]

It's beautiful Barb.
Is there a scent?

[Tamtarn]

No scent at all Jeanette.

Isn't it strange ....... a spectacular flower can have no scent at all and then the most ordinary sometimes ugly flowers have a very strong beautiful scent :shrug: :shrug:

[astroron]

The ugly have to have something going for them:lol:
I know:)

[circumpolar]

If anyone has a Camellia they need to I.D. or if you need advice just let me know.

My family owns a Camellia wholesale nursery at Kurrajong Heights, NSW. I worked there for 15 years unpaid (child labour) and 7 years (paid) as Production Manager. I have given many a speech on the subject.

These are truly beautiful plants.

C.j. 'Desire' is one of the best modern formal double flush flowers you can buy! Very good choice. :thumbsup: Nice large flowers and very consistant. Alot of other formal D's only produce perfect flowers as a first flush and then tend to loose shape as the season progresses, but not this cultivar. Good growth habit as well.

[Bobj]

Beautiful flower! Used to grow Camellias and azaleas when I lived in Glen Innes.
Heard a story that in the early days of the camellia, the English wanted tea plants and asked the Chinese to send young camellia chinensis shrubs over to England. The canny Chinese sent the Camellia japonica instead. Is this correct?
BTW I now grow tropical orchids.

[Tamtarn]

A question Matt...........Hope you get back to the thread :)

We bought a camellia 2 years ago, quite small with the label Roger Hall.

Now when it flowers we get 3 different flowers :D

We then realized at the base there were three stems.

Does this happen very often Matt :shrug:

Below is are the three flowers. I missed getting the variegated one before it fell off :doh:


27975 27976

279772797827979

[circumpolar]

This could 3 plants in the same hole but closer inspection is needed. The formal double flower ( the one that looks like the lable picture) is the correct cultivar. The other two flowers could be another two seperate plants OR one plant with two stems below the surface!, even though thay are different looking flowers but once again leeds a closer look. This latter parradox is known as 'SPORTING'. Many Camellia's do this and is quite common. The flower form (ie. formal double, semi-double, single etc) is always the same but the colour and markings on the petals differ, also the branch with the odd flower many grow at a different rate or have slighty different leaves or markings.

So this could be either:
2 different plants each one a different cv.(one of wich with two subsurface stems and a SPORT)

3 different plants, 3 diferent cv's

This happens all the time in established gardens when a large Camellia seeds.
Each seed in the fruit can develop into as many different looking plant as there are seeds all in the same spot. But seeded Camellia's are not grown for retail sale as they can take over 7 years to flower and you don't know what your getting until that happens. So they are always propagated from semi-hardwood cuttings. It seems like the quality control at the propagation nursery may have been poor! :screwy:

Hope this helps.

[circumpolar]

BTW, when ever you need to get a plant ID, also incloud the leaves close to the flower as well as some old and new ones. The varigated flower on the ground had no leave to compare to the other pictures. Many Camellia cv's look exactly the same in flower but there leaves are usually slightly different.

:)