Hi all, new to the forum and enjoying it so much already.
Was just wondering whether anyone in the UK grows this yellow flowered Camellia species, chrysantha or nitidissima (from China and Vietnam)?
I'd be very interested in a cutting/seedling or two...

On Apr 5, 12:57*pm, dpien wrote:
Hi all, new to the forum and enjoying it so much already.
Was just wondering whether anyone in the UK grows this yellow flowered
Camellia species, chrysantha or nitidissima (from China and Vietnam)?
I'd be very interested in a cutting/seedling or two...

--
dpien



Who wouldn't

On 05/04/2012 17:27, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-04-05 12:57:37 +0100, said:


Hi all, new to the forum and enjoying it so much already.
Was just wondering whether anyone in the UK grows this yellow flowered
Camellia species, chrysantha or nitidissima (from China and Vietnam)?
I'd be very interested in a cutting/seedling or two...

I don't think anyone's growing it in this country or if they are,
they're really struggling with it. I emailed Lady Anne Berry about it
because I'd read somewhere or other that she'd had it. She put me in
touch with a Camellia expert in this country who said he didn't know of
anyone who'd grown it successfully and that he thought it would be hard
to grow here, even under glass. I've been trying to find one for some
time. All this was some 6 years ago but there's no sign of it being
for sale in this country that I'm aware of. It's on the list of plants
endangered by loss of habitat.

Have you looked at Sinocalycanthus? It's not the same colour of course
but there's a similarity of form, I think.

You could try asking Nick Macer (Pan-Global Plants) if he is going to
North Vietnam again in the near future. If so, maybe he could get some
seeds or cuttings.

Or you could look at the top of page 21 here (NB 19Mb download!):
http://www.nucciosnurseries.com/images/nuccios.pdf
Also see Page 29. As a commercial nursery importing may be easier for
you than individuals.

--

Jeff

Many thanks to Sacha, Chris and Jeff,
It does seem to be quite impossible to acquire this species here in the UK or from Europe for that matter!
Nuccio's in California and Camellia Forest in North Carolina seem to be the only reliable current sources of this and similar (chrysanthoides, nitidissima variant and hybrids) species.
However, the laws are too strict for importing plant material from the US so I'm about to give up on this one.
I just find it strange that it just wouldn't grow in the UK as it is listed as hardy to zone 8b by the big nitidissima expert (at Camellia Forest - check their website). Perhaps too few ppl have tried to grow it here?
Anyway, thanks again to all - really nice forum this..

Dan

I just find it strange that it just wouldn't grow in the UK as it is
listed as hardy to zone 8b by the big nitidissima expert (at Camellia
Forest - check their website). Perhaps too few ppl have tried to grow it
here?
Anyway, thanks again to all - really nice forum this..

Dan

--
dpien

Why do you find it strange that so few people have tried to grow it in
the UK when it is just about impossible to obtain it in the first
place?

In article , dpien.9f40cf6
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...


I just find it strange that it just wouldn't grow in the UK as it is
listed as hardy to zone 8b


http://pnwmg.org/mghardinesszones.html

"The concern with the USDA zones is that they are based only on average
annual minimum temperatures, and do not take into consideration other
factors which significantly impact horticulture, such as day-length,
rainfall, frost, minimum and maximum temperatures, sunshine, and soils.
The result is that large geographic areas of the US may be grouped
together into a single USDA zone when, in fact, they actually have
significantly different growing conditions."

Even less chance of US zones matching conditions in a small
northerly island.

You can read more here

http://www.trebrown.com/hrdzone.html

Janet

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!

Thanks so much Chris for all the info! Patience is a virtue as any gardener knows and hopefully someone will have success with these in the UK in future, it will be worth waiting for.
I certainly don't advocate exploiting an endangered species such as this one in the wild. Just to be clear, there is evidence that man-made reproduction and cultivation has been successful in other places and hopefully we can acquire at some point some specimens from those nurseries..