I have a young Dahlonega, and I have to say that my blooms were not anywhere near that yellow. LOL. Do they age to a darker yellow after cutting?? Mine were more of a creamy white, with a hint of yellow. Still very nice, but those are incredible!

I don't know, but I sure am going to try to find out. Mine is more pale also, which is why I was so blown away.

Maybe this is a Super Dahlonega. When nobody's looking, swipe those flower cuttings and see if the stems will root!!! ;-)

Somebody beat me to it!! But no problem, I know where they came from and will let you know what I find out. Here's an interesting thing, these didn't even win a prize! Not even first in category (you can see the card is hole punched for second place). So you can imagine what some of the other 1500 blooms must have looked like. But it is so unusual to see a vivid yellow like this, I was impressed. This man has a magnificent camellia collection.

I have to wonder just what the judges are looking for when they decide those flowers aren't the best! The only flowers that could possibly be better would have to be gold plated!!! I also have this plant, and my only flower so far was very pale-almost white. I just cannot believe that arrangement came in second, an insult!

That certainly is yellow! I passed on buying this one because I was afraid the color would be washed out and too faint. Maybe it is his soil?

I just saw Jim Campbell who grew them. He is scratching his head too, and he said these were more yellow than ever before, but he doesn't know why, whether it was weather conditions or something else. He said last year they were very pale, nearly white. He has heard it said that some wood ashes (alkaline)spread around the root zone may make them more yellow, but he has not tried that himself. More ideas to play around with.

Phillip, I still like 'Dahlonega,' even with the washed-out color. It's still a very nice faint yellow. In my opinion, much better than the overrated 'Jury's Yellow,' which always looks awful in my garden. I may not have Jury's Yellow sited well, though - it gets too much Winter sun, and the foliage looks stressed. That could impact the flowers also. Probably needs a more sheltered location for best appearance.

Plantaholic has mentioned 'Lemon Glow' previously, which is supposed to be much better than 'Dahlonega.' I wish I could find that one here!