u/unelsson

Here's my second flowering Camellia. What a fantastic flower!

What I've found is that it's a variety registered in 1800's, cultivated by horticulturist Raffaello Mercatelli. I ordered it from Flora Toskana (Germany) over a year ago, and although the plant arrived healthy, the flowers and buds didn't really survive the long travel. It has had now time to settle, and seems to be doing well.

I've never seen the first stage of flowering of Camellias before, and took a long time to research and make a decision to buy these and decide a variety I would like. I think I made the correct decision.

Last winter I wrote about buds dying out, and challenges with getting Camellias accustomed to cold climate. So here's an update: First bloom! I'm so happy to see this happening, although the timing feels a bit strange.

I've done my best to keep the plants healthy, and kept observing. It's interesting to see how they are adapting. Blooming in August? Is it normal?

Lots of buds, this is only the beginning. I can't wait to see how it looks when the rest of the buds open up, not to mention seeing my other Camellia develop (it has flower buds, but no flowers yet).

So I listened to this - "Caroline Dean reveals the genetic secrets of flowering"
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/b0b2jdxj

Key takes are that winter, cold temperatures, is needed to suppress genes that block flowering, but also that plants monitor peak temperatures (peak afternoon and peak low at night)... So armed with that knowledge, any idea what kind of temperatures are we speaking of during Camellias that flower in December or January? Do Camellias flower after the coldest time of the year, or exactly at the coldest time of the year? And what are the temperature peaks that signal these things to Camellias? Are the peak temperatures of January around 0, +5C, +10C or even mindbogglingly hot +15C?

So I've had this Camellia (Kramer's Supreme) for about a year now. I got it in the end of the blooming time around April, and held them out possibly slightly too long in the autumn.

Last December I started to notice some small budding, and somewhere in January-February they died out. I installed an artificial light at some point to combat the dark months and now I've kept it in an indoor corner with a relatively strong plant light.

The light levels this north change drastically with seasons, and soon there won't be a dark moment in the night. Now there seems to be many healthy small buds, and I'd really like to enjoy the blooms, but I'm confused of the timing and thinking if and when to move it outdoors for better light and growing season. What do you think? Can you read the plant? It looks generally healthy to me, but I'm still new with Camellias.