paghat wrote:

I'm only a moderate fan of spring-blooming C. japonica, but these other
species that bloom for winter, these are great marvels for insuring
floweriness when other peoples' gardens are completely fallow.

Pag,

On the east coast, C. japonica's "spring" blooming season can
start in early January, after most of the fall-blooming
Camellia species are done for the year. In the right
location, they can be tremendously effective and provide
flowers when nothing else is blooming.

Like you, I prefer the C. sasanqua species and hybrids, but
then again, I don't have the right location for C. japonica.
Friends who live in the woods nearby have planted dozens of
varieties of the latter, and they are wonderful to behold, all
winter long.

In my windy, sunny location, I just seek late-blooming C.
sasanqua varieties, which bloom through mid-January. By then,
some of the Viburnum species and Lonicera fragrantissima take
over.


Mike Prager
Beaufort, NC (on the coast in zone 8a)
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