Awesome bloom. Pat your shrub and yourself on the back. Is this picture from today? Wow if it is. I have been wanting to get some early & late bloomers myself.

My winter weather was not exactly cold or dismal this year. It just had a lot of wild temperature fluctuations (70s the day before and 20s on the next; that kind of thing). I recall someone on the news/weather mentioned that it was way above average. Then I panicked thinking about the camellias losing flower buds and the hydrangeas starting leaf out from the base. Ugh.

I noticed that unprotected camellias had some bud drop but those in a more protected location had no bud drop. They all started blooming on schedule in Jan but then took a 2 month break and restarted in late March to early April.

Therefore the desire to add more early and late bloomage. Enjoy whatever bloomage April Rose still has.

Luis

Thanks, Luis that was a picture from the same day. There are quite a few more buds getting ready to open, too.

After planting 30 april dawn and april rose, I was sooo disappointed when this terrible winter killed about 10 of my plants. Thankfully some that looked dead ended up coming back. I found out after the winter that I should have used Wilt Pruf to protect them from the harsh winter. Your plant looks beautiful. Mine had so many buds that just simply toasted with this winter. I'm hopeful that by moving them to the more north side of the house, they'll fare better. One question: How fast do they grow?

Dr. Ackerman says April Rose is compact and relatively slow growing, Mine's about four feet tall and grows a few inches each year. Would be curious to know what the ultimate height is.

Camellias can live for hundeds of years. In ideal locations, you can just imagine but, in a home setting like yours and mine, they will start to hit "problems" once they get exposed to too much sun and that will limit their growth.

Thanks. Regarding height, cam forest and others say up to 8ft by 4-5 ft wide.