I have run into a few tall camellias for sale at nurseries but only when they restock their inventories with new camellias. The precise date varies from one place to another so it may be worth it asking when do they expect camellia shipments. Big stores like Lowes teend to have 2' tall bushes only but HD once had a >4' tall ones. They are obviously expensive though. You can also call local landscape companies to see if they will share with you the name of local places where you can get very tall camellias.... just in case these places have an even taller camellia that will not break the budget by much.

Mail-order and Internet nurseries can also have tall camellias but I would recommend contacting by phone for this type of sale (as opposed to email). That way, you can discuss more details and get answers rightaway.

I notice new camellias in nurseries from October thru December.

Thank you for all your expertise on this. I really felt silly asking. I'll definitely take your advice and call around. Again, many thanks!

check your local home-owned nurseries, too.
we have 2 that i can think of in this area that keep those sizes in stock year-round.
also, watch for spring club sales. the kiwanis club of lee county, al. has an azalea and camellia sale each spring (usually march) and they sell half-gallon and 3 gallon sizes of camellias. the larger sizes are reasonable (to me) at about $35 each. the shrubs are about 3'-4' tall.
if no luck with either of these, you might contact the american camellia society chapter nearest you and ask for local sources.
if you want late winter/spring bloomers, look for camellia japonica; if you prefer fall bloomers, c. sasanqua and hybrids.

More great information. Thanks again for all your help. I'll definitely give these resources a try. I really appreciate your response.

I agree that camellias that size shouldn't be difficult to find. Call all of the local garden centers and nurseries. I think that you might find them to be a lot pricier than $35, though.

This would be a good time to drag out that old dusty phone book to find all of the garden centers and nurseries in your location.

That's great. I'm still sorting out the design of this area but it's good to know I can get some large camellias. the double whites and light pinks have me very intereted. Pink perfection looks like a beauty.

perhaps being near the source of the dodds' nursery in semmes, al. allows the ones sold by the kiwanis club here to be priced lower than a retail nursery but they were about $35.
i could understand them being higher at retail nurseries, esp. as far north as maryland. i think you might expect to pay almost twice as much as the price i gave at other outlets and shipping costs would be prohibitive!

a beautiful, old, pink-flowered cultivar is 'donation'. said to be cold hardy.
i have a large shrub of 'pink snow' pruned into tree-form.
the individual flowers are rather plain but the effect from a distance is very nice when it is covered in flowers in autumn. they carpet the ground when they shatter and it does look like pink snow!
perhaps the favorite in my garden is 'c.m. wilson'. it has large anemone-form flowers and very dark green foliage.
what do you think? ;-)

it sometimes throws out flowers with more petals looking like this:
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and then it sported this one which looks very much like 'chandleri elegans'
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I think these are superb, just beautiful. I went to a garden center today and looked at a few. The foliage is also very appealing to me. Dark green, as you describe. Great looking. I have this bed behind my deck. The brick structure (old bbq) and plants have all been removed. I want to keep the arbor -- but everything else is a clean slate. It gets dappled sun and then a couple of late afternoon hours given the mature trees overhead. I wanted this to have a formal look to it and was thinking about camellias thoughts?