It's more of a challenge in Austin than further east in Texas but yes, you can grow them. I will e-mail you the contact information for a person there who has been growing them a long time, who can better advise you.

Good luck..they are worth the effort...

The 'queen of the winter garden'!

This may be helpful, a discussion thread about growing camellias in Austin TX, from the ACS Bulletin Board.

Here is a link that might be useful: ACS Bulletin Board re Austin, TX

Try sending a GardenWeb Email to junglejenny or forrestAL. The notes above indicate that they exchanged emails so they may still have the ACS Bulletin Board Information in their personal emails. I just checked and confirmed that it was not there, at leat with the search parameters I used.

I'm in north austin with a Kramers Camellia (double red blooms) in my front bed that so far, so good. (year two in the ground) Hearing that they aren't typical has me worried now.

It survived the weird freeze we got, and in the heat seems to sit quietly so long as I keep it watered.

My soil is HIGHLY supplemented, I bring in at least 3-5 bags of compost, yearly in addition to mulch and both spray and pellet fertilizer. The complex we're in gave us six inches of sandy rocky useless over concrete like gravel over limestone. Yay Texas. Of course my good dirt seems to sink into oblivion by the end of the season.

It seems to be doing alright, bloomed in roughly february this last year, and has added about 1-2" per branch.

It seems to be tolerating a mostly sunny spot pretty well, the only other alternative was a spot that had NO(!!!!) sun whatsoever and is an utter marsh anyways.

I'm resurrecting this post again...

mandi_sl, I wonder how your camellia is doing?

One of the two I planted died last year, from a lack of water while I was on a long holiday. I ended up having to move the other--too much sun in its first spot and the leaves were scalded. But it is doing fine now. New leaves came out in June which were chlorotic looking but an application of iron seemed to help. Mine added about 2" per branch as well. This summer has been really hard on all my plants, even trees, so I have to water the camellia deeply about once a week.

The kind I'm growing is "October Affair"--very pretty blooms!

Seeing as how this is my first and only camellia, I'm wondering if its slow growth is typical.

Well, I would think since you are in a zone 8 they would be fine where you are. I know there are quite a few in my neighborhood, and were a cold 8A here. The ones that I see here are fairly large small tree types. I would think if they do ok here they should do just fine there.

Yes, its growth is typical. All of mine grow 1 to 2 inches a year here in North Texas. There are some faster growing camellias but slow is very much why they cost so much at nurseries. Try buying some large specimens and you go into hundreds of dollars easy.

a crook - that claimed to be a landscaper - planted MANY Camellias on the sunny side of my house morning sun till 2pm and front, afternoon sun 2pm until 7pm. And they burned. Very upset & broke

Oh no. I would recommend sun only until about 11am (summer 11am mind you, not winter 11am) or under a tree where they get dappled sun. Lost of shade needed in the afternoons because the leaves cannot deal well with the harsh sun and 100+ degree temperatures. A better location would be on the east side of the house or east side of a shade tree. They can take full sun here during the winter but not after late May (some leaves may temporarily turn yellow-green for a few weeks and recover). If they are still alive, you could transplant them, move them into containers/pots or put something that provides shades (think: outside table umbrellas).

I live in Plano TX zone 8 and have 5 camelias on north side of house. I have one I left in the 3 gallon pot on porch getting dappled sun beside the gardenia tree. All are doing well....no scalding due to not in direct texas sun. They do tend to like water and dappled morning sun best. I have a friend that planted in full Texas morning sun and it has scorched.This is year 2 and growth is slow but healthy with new growth showing.

Good luck...

Sasanquas can usually handle the summer sun but japonicas, ehhh, will probably complain if you give them afternoon sun in the summer.

:o)

Are the japonica's in central texas possible, in filtered light...and in a raised bed? Let me put it this way, are they as possible as sansaqua? I've seen some kind of camelia thriving in a shaded old landscape nearby...was holding out hope.

Dappled sun in the summer is fine; a raised bed too. Ultimately, you can try it and see how the leaves react. Usually, the leaves will "say something" either in the summer or in the winter (when a tree that gives them shade looses its leaves).

On its first year, the leaves may also react "more" because the plant was grown in low light greenhouse conditions and cannot handle the outside sun. Then the next set of leaves will come out and adapt. The typical changes due to too much sun is for parts of the leaves in direct contact with the sun to turn orangey/brownish, eventually maybe black/grayish. A small amt of bronzing can happen too in winter or when leaves come out in Spring.

Thank you, I know what you mean about the discolored leaves. The freezes really marred a Sansaqua I planted, but this winter was way extreme. Over 60hrs low 20's. Do you know if there is a difference in the cultivars adaptability for Hill Country? I think I read that the Sansaquas were better adapted than the Japonicas here. Where is Hurst near? Not ringing a bell...

They normally do not mind the 20s for extended periods but I prepare them by watering deeply on the night before the cold (cold = 32F or less) fronts arrive and by making sure the y are well mulched with 2-4" of organic mulch to or past the drip line. One set is on the north of the house and the other on the south side (protected by the house from northern winds and protected from the sun).

We got down to low-mid teens this winter twice and had no issues other than some flower buds that browned out in the japonicas. No bud drop as a result of the cold so I am happy. They basically stop blooming (if they are blooming) or delay blooming for later.

The first time that we dropped to the teens last year, the sasanquas were finishing their blooming so they stopped blooming and restarted blooming with a handful of flower buds two weeks ago. The second time that we dropped to the teens in January, the mid-season blooming japonicas were not blooming yet so the japonicas delayed blooming & started blooming about two weeks ago. Then a late blooming japonica began to bloom last week; not sure if it cared about the cold as it normally blooms late.

Flower buds for me can hold on to the mid teens if I water deeply the night before the cold arrives. The plants should be able to carry on even much colder temps.

I am in the DFW Metroplex. Hurst is almost touching the western side of the Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport in north-central Texas.

Sasanquas and japonicas in the Hill Country and here require amending the soil to acidify it. I amend with garden Sulfur, greensand, iron-chelated liquid compounds, etc in Spring and sometimes again in the Fall if I notice signs of iron chlorosis. The Piney Woods Region is the only location where the soil is typically acidic enough so as not to require amending this way.

Areas where you have caliche soil would present the biggest problem to either camellia as the fibrous roots in the top few inches would have difficulty penetrating the soil.

Sasanqua leaves suffer less from summer sun than japonicas do here. There is a shopping center that has them growing in full sun at all times of the year and they do fine even thru our daily 100s in the summer. But they will require that their soil be moist as evenly possible (not periods of dry soil, followed by wet and dry soil again). I keep them well mulched and I water deeply so as not to have to worry much about it. If unsure about whether they need water, I insert a finger to a depth of 4" and water if it feels dry or almost dry. Start with 1 gallon of water per watering for a new shrub of the size typically sold locally (2' tall or something like that?) and tweak that as needed. More or more often in the summer & early Fall; less often in winter. But plan to water thru winter as well since dry years may cause the semi-dormant camellias to need water. I almost lost one camellia when I shut off the sprinkler system at the start of a big cold spell and then forgot to restart it after the cold left us a week later.

As for planting location, I give them summer sun until about 10am-11am. Dappled sun is also ok. So is bright full-time shade. I have a single japonica that gets sun from 11am-1pm and some (very few) of the leaves get sunburn but usually just a handful... 5 or less say. It is getting big so I cut the leaves off if they look ugly. I am considering putting shade cloth in that area though because of other shrubbery that is more sun sensitive than the camellia. Regarding wind in a planting location, I would choose a location with less winds (or something that blocks wind somehow): light summer winds help dry out the soils and require more watering $$$. ;o) I had a japonica in a location that was subject to wind and it required hand watering in the summer, something that is not fun when it is hot outside.

Does that help, jaceymae? Luis

AWESOME REPLY!! Thank you so much for all the detes. I guess I always thought the japonica would be less hardy. We are in granite gravel, deep river bottom..so no caliche..thank goodness. We do have clay in some places, so water can retain which is a good thing. I will try this sansaqua in my dappled shade, and watch the japonica. Its got more sunlight, but in a raised container, so I'll also ammend that as you suggested. If they can handle Dallas they should cerainly be ok here, although I lost one in a pot, but I'm not there and it may have succumbed to both cold and dry. I was thrilled when the one I planted in the late fall covered with buds bloomed last week. I had given it up for sure..and dispite the browning on the buds, were quite beautiful when they finally bloomed. ;)