On 19/11/05 11:40, in article
, "
wrote:

My mother bought be a camellia to grow in a pot in my previous garden -
the soil was considerably more limey there, and it needed to be on the
steps to be west-facing, which is I think why she suggested a pot. She
has grown them in pots for ages and she knows more than me about
gardening so I just did what she suggested. And the camellia has
sentimental value (apparently when I was born, in February in Devon, my
grandfather brought a camellia flower in to the hospital for her. I'm
38 - in the noughties it flowered in November in London and December in
Lancashire. Hmm.)

My son is nearly 30 and when he was born by mother in law brought me
Inspiration, Donation and another 'ion' I now forget. Bearing in mind one
of the possible effects of childbirth, a friend of mine asked if she'd also
brought one called Constipation. ;-)

In the new house it's also west-facing, although the soil is more acid
here, it's still in a pot, and this summer the leaves started turning
brown (it did flower in the spring), and now they've all dropped off.
I can see a few signs of buds (although maybe it's the eye of faith).
I suspect, having looked it up, that the problem was caused by either
a) underwatering (less likely) b) overwatering (fairly likely) or c)
too much fertiliser (also likely) or possibly d) having nasturtiums in
the pot too, though it's had them before without complaining. It had a
whole year in the same spot without complaining, also, and our water is
again a lot less alkaline than in London, plus it rains more so it gets
more rainwater.

The problem was, she says embarassedly, that it was one of about 4
non-tomato pots at the front of the house, where there were about 8
pots of tomatoes, and I just watered everything the same - incuding
some feed (mainly seaweed but also tomato feed - I did try not to give
tomato feed to the other plants though). This seemed to suit the
hanging basket and the roses, but not the camellia.

So, should I a) give up now and confess to my mother
b) wait till after Christmas and see if it flowers/produces any more
leaves
c) go out and try and find one about the same size and hope she doesn't
notice??!


My husband thinks that the tomato fertiliser was probably not a good idea
because Camellias shouldn't be over-fertilised. He recommends an ericaceous
fertiliser feed in spring and another in autumn but no more than that. He's
not exactly optimistic about your plant's chances of recovery but suggests
leaving it alone and seeing if it does come back in the spring. As he says,
there is nothing to lose! He also wonders if watering, over or under, or a
fortnight's holiday with no watering, might have contributed to the problem.
If it DOES survive, make sure it gets just enough water to keep it damp, not
saturated and that it can drain properly, not stand in water.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)