Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: the year's first camellia

Isn't this gorgeous? I'm so proud of my £5 find at the local annual plant sale. I've been waiting all summer to see what it does. I was promised an unusual camellia that blooms from October to Christmas, and it's swung into action right to schedule.

 

Its buds are a lovely pink:

And the flowers retain a pink edge as they open:

It's even got a delicate scent. Even better, it had a label and I know which one it is: Camellia sasanqua 'Rainbow'.

According to Noel Kingsbury's article on How to Grow Camellia Sasanqua, it will take more sun than other camellias, but still does best against a west or south-facing wall with shaded roots.

Now all I have to do is find the perfect spot in the garden. And you know how hard that is to get right. 

To see what else is blooming around the world this month for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, visit May Dreams Gardens.

Comments

[Lea]

Very Pretty!
Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea

[Nell Campbell]

'Rainbow' is beautiful. Camellias are the best part of a winter garden.

[Hannah]

'Rainbow' looks a lot like my 'Apple Blossom' that is blooming. I love that it finally started blooming and has more buds to come.

[Chloris]

What a gorgeous Camellia. And a bargain at £5. A lovely plant to brighten up the dark days we are having now.

[Helen at Toronto Gardens]

How I wish our climate were mild enough for camellias. What a wondrous flower to have at this dreary time of year! Good luck perfect spotting.

[Helen]

Thank you, everyone. I'm only just getting into camellias - for some reason I've always thought of them as "difficult".

My sympathies, Helen. I hear you've already had snow over there. (Lovely for Christmas!)

[Helene]

Ah, how nice to see you have 'Rainbow', it was one of many camellias I looked into when looking for an early blooming one last year. In the end I went for a blood-red anemone form flowered and the first flower opened today! Camellia japonica 'Takanini' can flower from November to March non-stop when mature, mine is just a baby still but have loads of buds. But I had a hard time choosing because I also wanted the scent that comes with the sasanquas – how much scent do you have? Can you smell the flowers passing the bush or do you have to stick your nose right into the flower to smell anything? I might have to order my third camellia this winter :-)

[Helen]

Hi, Helene. The bush is only about 18 inches tall, though it's putting on a growth spurt at the moment, so I'm hoping it'll soon be much bigger. Consequently the blooms are somewhere round the level of my knees and no scent reaches me as I pass. It's not very strong even when I lift it up to my level. At the moment, I have to stick my nose right into the blooms to find the scent but the conversation on this forum suggests that size might have a bearing on scent (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/camellia/msg1009531430662.html?17) so I'm also hoping that maybe when it's more mature and taller it'll throw out a bit more into the air. Hope that helps.