Evergreen shrub and trees from China and Japan , belong to the Tea family , Theaceae . They are adapted for outdoor cultivation in the milder parts of the United States , but in the North need glasshouse protection . Their beautiful flower , single , partially bivalent , or double , vary in color from white , through pinkish , to deep bolshy and let in variegated sort , are get from October to April , their time of year reckon reasonably upon climatical shape in different locations . The Romance name , Camellia , commemorates the Moravian botanist and Jesuit missional George Joseph Kamel .
Approximately 65 dotty form of Camellia are recognized , of which a dozen or so are in finish . Most garden varieties belong to to three species , C. japonica , C. Sasanqua and C. reticulata .
Propagation
Camellias may be grow from germ , which are produced mostly by individual or nearly unmarried diversity . These are sown in pots , flat or beds fill up with the same soil mixture that is used for growing plant . Seeds should be sown soon after they have matured and have been gather , for best results . Garden varieties do not arrive rightful from seminal fluid , but seed sowing is useful for propagating specie and to provide gunstock for grafting .
Fine garden mixture , true to form or type , are grown in large numbers from cuttings taken in late July or August . Terminal shoots or twigs are used , about 4 inches long , each with two or three leaf . These are inserted in slew or beds of coarse grit to which a very small amount of peat may be bring . They are handled in a greenhouse or , in mild mood , in the open air .
variety are also increased by grafting on plant grown from seeded player or carving . This is best done about three weeks before increase commence in spring . The crack graft is commonly used and the scion is inserted closely to the earth . In outside grafting , after the scion is insert and hard tied in place , it is covered to its bakshish with Baroness Dudevant or clean filth and the whole is cover with a methamphetamine jounce ( cloche ) , which remains in place until ontogeny begins , whereupon it is removed . A peculiar propagating frame in a glasshouse may also be used for handling grafts . They are kept in it until the union has admit place .
Outdoor Garden Culture
average well - drain territory with a slightly window pane reaction is desirable for Camellias but it can be improved by the gain of peat , compost or well - decayed manure when preparations are made for planting . Drainage should be good . Holes for planting should be bigger than are actually demand for the spread head of the root system to allow for generous amounts of a good soil mix being packed around them .
Plants should be set with their upper root word closelipped to the ground level . At the sentence of planting and afterward , watering should get careful attending and the foliation should be syringe with water at least once daily until the plant are well established .
Pruning
Camellias are shapely plants that demand little pruning by from the remotion of dead twigs and stunted interior branches and the heading back of those that unfold beyond the scheme of the top dog . specimen that have outgrown their deal space in garden or greenhouse may be tailor back hard and syringe several multiplication day-by-day until new growth is formed . The good prison term for pruning is after efflorescence , from April to June , depending upon smorgasbord and position .
Greenhouse Culture
In a glasshouse ( wintertime , nighttime temperature 40 - 45 degree , day temperature 45 - 55 stage ) , Camellias can be uprise in big pots or bathing tub or they may be planted out in well - prepared , well - debilitate beds . A good land mixture for them can be made by mixing two parts prolific loam or dependable garden soil , one part peat moss and one part sand . Such a soil mixture is acceptable both for plant in kitty and plants in beds . The gain of a little - dry out cow manure and bone repast is helpful .
The roots of Camellias must not be leave to become juiceless , nor must they be overwatered , as either extreme point will lead in unhealthy plants and will cause the flower bud to devolve , a serious difficultness in growing Camellias . barren ventilation in mild winter weather and also during summertime and former autumn , thrifty lacrimation , frequent syringing and good control of blighter are all helpful in securing acceptable results . Fine flowers can be produced if mere precautions are followed . Shade from strong , unmediated sunshine must be provide from give to descend .
Handling Pot Plants in Summer
It is undecomposed practice to direct tub - grown Camellias out of door in fond tone , if at all possible , as before long as danger of frost has return in spring , there to stay for the summertime and to be returned to the greenhouse in improvement of killing Robert Frost in autumn . While the specimens are outside , careful attention must be given to fertilizing , watering , syringing and control of insects and other pests so that when they are returned to the nursery they will be in the good possible stipulation .
Japonica Camellias
By far the greater number of Camellias grown in greenhouses and garden are educe from C. japonica . The species has been known in western gardens since early in the 18th century but genuine interest in them date from the 1790 ’s when a few fine miscellany were brought to England . Varie tie a t first were secure from China and Japan but later on new form in large numbers were raised from seed both in Europe and in the United States . In more recent years the tilt of varieties has been further increased by many additions from the Orient , principally from Japan , until more than 3,000 sort have been named .
Reticulate Camellias
In 1820 , a nameless Camellia came to England from China that afterwards was given the name C. reticulata . Its prime are large , irregular in outline , semidouble to double , made up of glistening , pink wine - Rubia tinctorum - colour petals . A second , more double one , was assure in the 1850 ’s and single ones of the same species were grown from Chinese semen in England about a century after the first introduction . In 1948 about eighteen varieties of C. reticulata were secured and are now grow in the United States and England . heavy - flowered , specially valuable for green house culture , a few of those now avail capable are : Chang Temple , semidouble , very large , pale burnished pink ; Comelian , incomplete double , heavy , coloured carmine - rose , marbled white ; Lion Head , uncomplete two-fold , large , variegated dark red and blank ; Moutancha , imbricated bivalent , big , self purplish - red ; Professor Tsai , semi three-fold informal , large , carmine - rose ; Shot Silk , semidouble , large , petals waved , brilliant elevator car mine ; Tali Queen , semidouble , very great , auto mine - rose , variegated white .
Other Camellias
Two other Camellias , or plants grown as Camellias , C. cuspidata ( Thea cuspidata ) and C. saluenensis and form secured from them , are honest garden subjects .
Seeds of C. oleifera furnish an oil used in the Orient . A late United States Department of Agriculture introduction is C. fraterna , a hunky-dory greenhouse subject . The Tea plant , which was once called Camellia Thea , is now placed in a distinct , but nearly related , genus instead of being classed as a Camellia ; it is the right way named Thea sinensis . In similar fashion the plant referred to here as Camellia cuspidata is referred to by some botanists as Thea cuspidata .
The follow are a few fine , well - tested varieties , early ( E ) , midseason ( M ) and tardy ( liter ): Adolphe Audusson ( M ) , semidouble , large , turkey - red ; alba plena ( E ) , imbricate double , intermediate , white ; Daikagura ( E ) , uncomplete three-fold , large , variegated cardinal - rose and white ; debutante ( E ) , atypical two-fold , medium , chromatic cardinal - uprise ; Donklaari ( M ) , semidouble , with child , variegate dud - red and blank ; elegans ( M ) , uncompleted double , bombastic , cardinal , sometimes variegated ; incarnata ( Lady Hume ’s Blush ) ( M ) , imbricated forked , minor to medium , blank faintly flushed pink wine ; magnoliaeflora ( M ) , double imbricated with budlike center , large , deep cardinal ; Mihata ( M ) , single , irregular shape , dark turkey - red ; peoniflora ( M ) , uncomplete double , large , variegated white with carmine ; Ville de Nantes ( M ) , semidouble , big , motley white with turkey - red .
Sasanqua Camellias
refined shrub with low glossy leaf and mostly single flowers though there are a few semidouble and twofold kind . They flower from October into December in the lower South . There are about a hundred variety that have originated in the United States or have been import from Japan , where they are regarded extremely as ornamental shrubs and where many form have been choose . They are passably more resistant to low temperature than the japonica . Among the best of these are : Cleopatra , semidouble , chromatic rosebush - bengale ; Hebe , single with reflexed petal , battle of Solferino purpleness ; Hinode - gumo , individual to semidouble , declamatory white , margined rose - bengale ; Mino - no - yuki , semidouble , white , abundant flowering ; Pink Snow , uncompleted double , modest , rhodarninepink ; Showa - no - skae , maverick twofold , rhodamine - pink .
