Originally Posted by Chris Hogg

On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 16:03:23 +0000, dpien
wrote:


Many keen hobbyists, including myself (I'm not a commercial entity btw),
have managed to even grow fully tropical plants quite successfully in
this country (esp. in the south west). I'm in Manchester, which happens
to be quite a haven for Camellia's of all kinds. I think this is a very
interesting project for someone with many years of experience and this
is the only reason why I'm a little puzzled that no UK Camellia expert
(and there are many!) appears to be prioritising this extremely
intriguing yellow Camellia (or if so, perhaps doing so in secret, for
now anyway?), which has already entered the western markets, but not
here.
It's just about become accepted that UK ppl are the European leaders in
gardening excellence and improvisation. UK ppl are quite obsessed with
garden plants and have proven time and time again how informed and
capable they are.
As always, just an opinion, and I really hope that regular commercial UK
importers may consider adding this species (or one of the
sub-species/varieties in this group) to their lists in the near future.
Thanks again for everyone's comments!

I have some sympathy with your opinion. The lack of availability of
this camellia in the UK may have a lot to do with availability rather
than ease of cultivation. As you point out, it is available in the US
from Nuccio's nursery, and Dr. Clifford Parks, who has close
connections with Camellia Forest Nursery AIUI, grows it and has used
it for hybridising (see http://tinyurl.com/cgroayw). The Royal Botanic
Gardens in Melbourne apparently grow four plants outdoors (see
Camellia nitidissima at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. So, although it may be tender and a bit
fussy, it shouldn't be _that_ difficult to grow, surely. However, it
is rare, and its locations in the wild, in China and North Vietnam,
are not the most accessible parts of the world. Not only that, I see
from the preamble in Nuccio's catalogue that European regulations
forbid them from exporting camellias to Europe, presumably for
phytosanitary reasons. So even if our commercial camellia growers
wanted to propagate it, they might not be able to get access to
suitable material.

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales