Camellia in bloom now?
 

Hi all -- I have a camellia in my southern-facing front yard which has just
begun to bloom. In the three years since I planted the bush, it's never had
flowers on it this early in the season-- it's always started blooming in
December or early January and the blooms have ended up dying on the bush
because we've had a bad frost or a snowstorm right as they begin to open.
I'm in Alexandria, VA, USDA Zone 7; is this usual? I'm glad it's blooming
now because I'll actually be able to appreciate the flowers, just I'm just
surprised. Has anyone else had this experience?

Rhonda
Alexandria, VA
Zone 7


*********
Each of us, a cell of awareness
imperfect and incomplete
Genetic blends with uncertain ends
on a fortune-hunt that's far too fleet

On Wed, 06 Oct 2004 21:15:50 GMT, "Natty_Dread"
in rec.gardens wrote:

Hi all -- I have a camellia in my southern-facing front yard which has just
begun to bloom. In the three years since I planted the bush, it's never had
flowers on it this early in the season-- it's always started blooming in
December or early January and the blooms have ended up dying on the bush
because we've had a bad frost or a snowstorm right as they begin to open.
I'm in Alexandria, VA, USDA Zone 7; is this usual? I'm glad it's blooming
now because I'll actually be able to appreciate the flowers, just I'm just
surprised. Has anyone else had this experience?

Rhonda
Alexandria, VA
Zone 7


Whether or not it is unusual I can't say, but I can say that we had the same
thing happen here in the front yard -- full sun -- in August. (In Georgia.)


FACE

Natty_Dread wrote:

Hi all -- I have a camellia in my southern-facing front yard which has just
begun to bloom. In the three years since I planted the bush, it's never had
flowers on it this early in the season-- it's always started blooming in
December or early January and the blooms have ended up dying on the bush
because we've had a bad frost or a snowstorm right as they begin to open.
I'm in Alexandria, VA, USDA Zone 7; is this usual? I'm glad it's blooming
now because I'll actually be able to appreciate the flowers, just I'm just
surprised. Has anyone else had this experience?

Rhonda
Alexandria, VA
Zone 7

Strange things happen. Right now, I have several spring-flowering
plants in bloom: azaleas, raphiolepis, etc. My dwarf kumquat,
which usually has two bloom periods -- one in mid-summer and one
about 4-6 weeks later -- is in bloom now.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

In article , David Ross
wrote:

Natty_Dread wrote:

Hi all -- I have a camellia in my southern-facing front yard which has just
begun to bloom. In the three years since I planted the bush, it's never had
flowers on it this early in the season-- it's always started blooming in
December or early January and the blooms have ended up dying on the bush
because we've had a bad frost or a snowstorm right as they begin to open.
I'm in Alexandria, VA, USDA Zone 7; is this usual? I'm glad it's blooming
now because I'll actually be able to appreciate the flowers, just I'm just
surprised. Has anyone else had this experience?

Rhonda
Alexandria, VA
Zone 7

Strange things happen. Right now, I have several spring-flowering
plants in bloom: azaleas, raphiolepis, etc. My dwarf kumquat,
which usually has two bloom periods -- one in mid-summer and one
about 4-6 weeks later -- is in bloom now.

I've more rhody reblooms this season than in most years -- just the
occasional flower here & there except for "Lee's Best Purple" which blooms
fully twice a year almost every year.

But the camellia season is starting for me right now. I have mainly
camelleas of the "sasanqua" type & they bloom in the main from October
through January.

-paghat the ratgirl

-----
"I wanted to be a Walt Disney villain when I was a child." -John Waters

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Natty_Dread wrote:

Hi all -- I have a camellia in my southern-facing front yard which has just
begun to bloom. In the three years since I planted the bush, it's never had
flowers on it this early in the season-- it's always started blooming in
December or early January and the blooms have ended up dying on the bush
because we've had a bad frost or a snowstorm right as they begin to open.
I'm in Alexandria, VA, USDA Zone 7; is this usual? I'm glad it's blooming
now because I'll actually be able to appreciate the flowers, just I'm just
surprised. Has anyone else had this experience?

No, but our forsythia started blooming about two weeks ago.
And, of course, Camellia sasanqua is blooming now.



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