there are tons of pictures at the site linked below though you have to navigate through various directories to find landscape photos. it is for the southeastern camellia society and some links are for private gardens, some for public.
as for where to plant, they can grow in different types of sites. some of the lower, spreading cultivars of species make nice hedges or screens while others will eventually become small trees. none of mine are in full sun but they don't flower well in heavy shade either. a site with dappled shade or sheltered from afternoon sun is generally considered as suitable for most camellias.
select "images" rather than "web" when you google something like "camellia gardens" and you'll get a lot of hits. many of them are for "flickr's" website with photos posted of gardens and blooms.
you need to get busy digging some holes for those 34 plants! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: camellia web

Jeff,
When you plant camellias what do you do to ammend the soil?
We have many old camellias here in Northeast Texas. They seem to love it here. The soil is acid and red clay.
The reason I ask is that when I first started gardening I planted some camellias - I didn't ammend the soil, just plopped them in. They are all alive and thriving.
After I had gardened for a while and learned that my soil is lacking in nutrients and that large amounts of compost is needed, I planted more camellias and ammended the soil extensively. 80% of the camellias planted died within 2 years.
I really don't know if it was the soil ammendments that killed them or if it was the location - the first camellias were planted under pine trees in the back yard, the second camellias were planted under oak trees in the front yard. Both are dry areas, both were "babied" through their first couple of years, getting water when needed.
What do you think? Oak vs pines, or compost vs clay?

It is difficult to think that amendments to the soil would result in 80% failures. I would suspect watering issues first. Those issues can be too little or too much water. Trees that have shallow roots will compete for water and nutrients so you should not plant camellias under those. Do not plant under trees that produce juglone, such as black walnut and butternut trees, since juglone can injure or kill nearby plants.

My soil is alkaline clay and I have successfully planted several camellias (but not 30+!). The soil was ammended with organic compost and the plants were mulched with 3-4" past the drip line. I fertilize with cottonseed meal and tweak things further in Spring to acidify the soil.

Most of my camellia plants made it. The failures I have had were due to lack of water (I totally forgot about one plant) and a "bad" planting location (two plants were destroyed by my dogs while they tried to get squirrels in a nearby tree).

Because camellias will grow into trees as they get older, it is not a good idea to plant them near other trees. But since most camellias grow oh-so-slowly, this would be a problem after several decades or more.

it is pretty much accepted practice to not ammend planting holes. doing so may create a "bathtub" effect wherein the water doesn't move through the different soil types quickly enough, especially if the native soil is clay.
i have pretty good sandy loam soil and don't ammend.
from what i have gathered, ammending entire planting beds is acceptable in that you achieve a consistent soil texture and chemistry over a large area where the roots will extend.
based on your message above, it seems like your first efforts bear witness to those recommendations.
i would return to your methods that resulted in success and use top applications of compost or cottonseed meal to provide appropriate nutrients through their slow-release traits. check your new shrubs for circling roots, too.
in my experience, oaks compete more with surrounding plants for water than pines because of the nature of their fine network of surface roots.
camellias and pines seem to go together here like peas and carrots. :-)

Thanks for the link. There were some good pictures there.
Do you know of any other sites like that?
I'm thinking of something along the line of a 'camellia tunnel'. I'd make the tunnel 12 ft wide, to give the camellias plenty of room to expand, and plant the camellias 4 ft apart.
So it would be like an upside down U, with 10 camellias going up the U, 4 camellias forming the top of the U, and 10 camellias going back down the other side. And the lower, spreading ones, framing the 'door' to the 'camellia room', and maybe over time, as the room becomes more defined and closed in, I'd put a statue or a water feature, or a bench at the back of the room.
The camellias I have now have taken a LONG time (5 years) to even reach 4 ft tall by 2 or 3 ft wide. Should I place the baby camellias closer than 4 ft apart?

What do you think of my design?

With the soil ammendments:
I wonder if I could put down compost and till it into the area? I am so scared to do anything that might mean that I lose all of these camellias, and a camellia man here in Texas told me one time not to ammend the soil, just to put in bark material to give the soil more friability. He said the compost was too strong. My roses love it... but the camellias didn't.

Carrie: If red nature soil works on your camellia( hope the soil is not clay), just red soil will do the job. I travel to China often to see their camellia nurseries, they use only red soil. Because it is acidic with iron compounds, less moldy microbials.

When the root starts to establish, apply proper fertilizer later.
I have picture to show you. The tree size camellia understocks were transplanted to this nusery for grafting. The holding ground has reddish soil. You can see how to prevent the root to be too wet. Even for small potting camellia, they also use the red soil or truck in the better red soil.
I visited wild C. japonica habitat this year, the ground was reddish soil, easy to drain.

By the way, how about the rooting you did?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:514167}}

{{gwi:514167}}

Longriver,

Where is this garden? I think the Camellia-trees in this picture are all 500+ years old.

I know some organizations try to salvage wild trees (from economic and population expansions) by moving them to a few "well managed" gardens. I think this is a last resort.

Many ignorant farmers destructively dig out local Camellia-trees; and sell them to irresponsible venders. The venders may pick a few ... ... the rest are trashed and let die. I think this destroys nature resources.

If you've got so many concerns about how to grow them, why are you planning to order and plant 34? Might you rather start smaller and gain some feedback and then expand your planting ? Usually you plan out the design of what you have in mind--colors, heights, types--and then order, rather than order and then think how you want to arrange them later. (Now, I say that as being prudent for large orders--I routinely buy things here or there and then say, hmm, what shall I do with this?)

I am growing a few camellias under a large pine, I think a white pine, and the conditions are desperately dry. I've lost a couple when I failed to supply extra water even after the first year or 2. Sometime after that, they seem to get established well enough, but this area is still dicey, and so if I find that even my more mature camellia starts to tank unless babied every year, I will give up on that plant in that area--I don't have the time. Oak conditions usually are less dry, but when planting anywhere under and around mature trees, it all depends on what you mean exactly by "under."

snasxs: The camellia trees are not what you think. For over one thousand years, Chinese have been cultivating a camellia species called C. oleifera on the gentle hills throughout southern provinces. They set seeds easily and the seeds have been used for edible cooking oil. In recent years, China purchases American corn oil (and their own vegetable oil production is also up), many large cultivated Camellia oleifera trees are set idle and then transformed into landscaping tree. Therefore the large camellia trees on the picture are not wild camellias.

Even today you can still buy cooking oil made from camellia seeds in China. In Hunan Province, a new improved cultivar of camellia species called C. yuhsienensis is very productive in oil rpoduction. The plant is bushy and oil quality is reported better than that of oliver oil. They are promoting cultivating C. yuhsienensis. This type of camellia plantation is actually increasing.

One strain of C. yuhsienensis is very fragrant. The white about 2&1/2 inches flower is like a butterfly. It blooms profusely as following picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:514168}}

Long-river, oh, I see. How interesting! These seemingly $1000-trees are actually retired crops! Lol!

The picture below is LR's picture of the highly fragrant C. Yuhsienensis
{{gwi:514168}}

Longriver,
The rooting went very well. One of those plants (I can't remember the name right now but it was fragrant and not hardy in my zone) rooted so easily that I now have lots of them to give away. The yellow sweet olive didn't do as well, but I am very proud to have at least 2 that are growing just fine.
Frankie,
I've already got over 30 camellias growing here that are perfectly healthy. But I tried 2 years ago to plant some and I amended the soil and many of them died. I don't know if it was the location or the ammending, but I do know that our soil is so lacking in nutrients that I would like to help them out in some way if I could do it without risking losing all of these camellias.
And the main reason for so many at once-
One of my friends just died unexpectedly at 52. It made me think of this list of camellias I've been working on for 3 years. I realized that if I had bought them 3 years ago they would already be larger and I would have enjoyed them for that much longer. So I took the money out of savings and bought them now so that I can enjoy them now instead of putting it off into the future.
I've really got so much room here, that any design would be possible. My mother envisions me having a whole 'forest' of camellias along one side of my property - 32 camellias won't even start that job!

Carie, I remember you love winter-fragrance. Long River has developed a few fragrant Camellias. You might get some!

If you have a Camellia garden, you should open it to the public. We all love your idea!

I have seen many camellias in Tyler and nearby areas. Some are in commercial settings and others in neighborhoods where people gather to see the Azalea Trails. If you really are concerned about the soil, get a soil test done to see how your soil is doing. A soil test every 5 years or so is a good idea.

Snasxs; A well grown grafted camellia tree was sold at RMB of $ 50,000 which is about U. S. $ 7,000. The large construction companies are the buyers. The transaction was made when I was visiting the nursery near Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province early March this year.

This business is like selling car, not like selling Hamberger.

Longriver,
Yes, I do need to learn how to graft. Unfortunately the grafts that I tried did not suceed. AND I ended up killing the camellias I was trying to graft onto. I'm kind of scared of risking that much money since camellias are expensive to buy, and then I might kill them by trying to graft on them. My mother is retiring from her job and is going to try her hand at grafting. I hope that she learns how to do it.
The plant that I rooted was not wintersweet, although at least one of the wintersweets did root. I think it was probably the one you call evergreen 'YangTong', even though that isn't the name I know it by - and I still can't recall the name!
Luis,
Soil tests thus far have indicated that there are almost no nutrients. But camellias grow wonderfully in this area (Texarkana). I went ahead and planted my baby camellias into the native soil. We'll see what happens. In 5 years or so they should be something to see! I am trying absolutely every one that the company offered which blooms during the winter (and not in the spring when everything else is blooming) and that is reputed to have somewhat cold hardy buds and/or flowers. I also purchased some fragrant camellias to try.

Your soil reminds me of the condition of some sandy soils in Florida, Carrie. Organic compost, cottonseed meal, acidic mulches and some liquid molasses may help the soil improve and get in better shape. Of course, if you have pooches like I do, do not be surprised if you catch them licking some of these things. Since they are all organic ammendments, you do not need to be alarmed although I will admit that their big ole' tongues full of cottonseed meal is just not pretty. Hee hee hee. LOL! Dogs!

What fragrant camellias are you trying out? Some scents are difficult to detect so you may have to smell early in the morning when the soil are still in the petals.

Those living in Texas should be able to locate a source of cotton burr compost easily as it is produced there. It is positively the best camellia food available. Wonderful for all acid loving plants. Also helps to break down clay soils. Difficult to locate in the other states. I pay extra to have it shipped to me in SC. Find it!

I'd beware of root-bound stock as it is almost impossible to find camellia plants at garden centers here that don't have terribly deformed roots, as in you can grab them and rock them around like a loose tooth even when they have been grown up to a large multiple gallon pot size. Use of stakes on specimens that should be well past needing them, or should have never needed them, and, of course, deformed roots out in full view, on top of the potting medium are other commonly seen red flags.

Finding out, if possible what approach the grower of the stock being ordered takes to keeping roots developing properly (unrestricted) would seem critical to me.

Other than that, due to the comparatively small leaf size of most kinds camellias blend well with other shrubs. Their main requirement is placing in correct exposure, where flowers and leaves will not be damaged.

Today I saw a girdling root over 1" diameter at the base of a 5 gallon trellised camellia. It was so massive it looked like the plant had been grown in a peat pellet and the pellet was still there, I leaned over to find out and yep - girdling root, like a fist or turnip.

Hello? Monrovia? Is anyone there?!

I see Hines filed for bankruptcy in August. Wonder how this is going to impact the camellia selection available here.

Of course they were all rootbound. But one could buy a one gallon plant, root their own cuttings and then throw the original out, I suppose.

I would have bought Camellia sasanqua 'Fukuzutsumi' ('Apple Blossom') a few years back but theirs are all virused, with marbled foliage evident even in small sizes. Monrovia sells that one, too, and theirs aren't marbled.

I don't know if this will help, but I had a similar dilemma last spring when I went wild buying camellias. I built a terrace across a wash in the back yard and backed it with a camellia hedge. I then planted camellias further apart behind those for pruning as trees.

In front of it I will be backfilling with topsoil and planting in a row of hydrangeas fronted by a low box hedge. Here is a picture of the terrace in progress.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:514170}}

There are many approaches, up to your yard situation and your preference.

1. A grand stadium view lower ones or slow growth ones at front and tall ones or fast growth ones at back. The center can be water fountain, pond or a large lawn.

2. Along a trail or mixing with other natural ones.

3. In groups of similar growth habit.

Thanks for the trellis picture. That is going to be absolutely beautiful.

Longriver, I used suggestions 2 and 3 in my planting. In one location I made a camellia walk. Camellias on both sides and at the end. Once they grow up a bit I want to put a statue at the end of the walk. The walk is 12' wide, which will leave room for a path even after the camellias are mature. I chose the camellias described as 'upright' for the camellia walk.
In the other location the camellias are mixed with other plants in one of my large semi-circle gardens in the back yard. The lower growing camellias and spreading camellias were placed in this location, where their shapes will complement the surrounding plants. There are japanese maples, many kinds of michellias, and miscellaneous other shrubs many of which bloom during the winter but look boring during much of the rest of the year.
Unfortunately, I am out of "views" from my house. Actually, I do have one location that would be great from viewing from the house, but it is where I lost so many other camellias and I'm not going to replant there unless I find a good sale where the camellias are cheap.

Love these!