Camellia of autumn
Scented camellia

The CAMELIA

Called in Japan camellia of autumn, the CAMELIA is a small shaft with the simple flowers, from which the petals fall easily, forming on the ground a coloured carpet, as in spring the flowers of cherry tree do it. Cultivated in the gardens of Asia since century, it is the Empress who put it at the mode in France. Its pretty silhouette a little irregular and more flexible than that of the CAMELIA of Japan, gives him sometimes a Japanese pace. Its small very scented flowers recover its flexible branches, sometimes as of September and lasting of long months. The apogee of their flowering is in November and December. The flowers are in general simple (contrary with the camellias of Japan) or semi-double. They are also smaller (from 3 to 5 cm in diameter), but especially very odorous, which makes the essence of their charm. The small slightly fluffy leaves moderate mahogany tree on the spring growths.

The CAMELIA feel the tea with the jasmine, which is not so astonishing, the botanical name of the tea plant being the CAMELIA . One finds there also delicious sweetened nuances of plum. The word would be a phonetic variation of a Chinese word meaning “flower of tea”. Its flower is used to scent the tea in certain areas of China. The perfume of the “” there is very snuffed since long centuries centuries. The semi-double forms are rather scented than those with simple flowers.

Do the CAMELIA resist cold?

Contrary to a very widespread idea, the camellia is not a sensitive to the cold shrub. The majority resist - 10 without problem. The adult subjects resist - 20 . The important thing is to avoid the cold airstreams, brutal alternations of freezing and thaw and to eliminate the #FFFFFF which breaks the branches easily and burns the buttons.

The CAMELIA requires an exhibition shone upon for flowering well. It is strongly advised to place it at of the cold winds, because its flowers, which resist well up to -3 , fade beyond, but without really stripping the shrub. With the first rise in temperature, new buttons open. One needs a severe gel, at temperatures lower than -10 , to damage the well closed buttons.

The camellias cultivated out of pots will be protected on the level from the roots by a veil wrapping the container. It is indeed important to prevent the ground from freezing because the roots are surface. The garden, a bed of dry leaves to the foot of the shrub ensures an ideal protection.

What does one call hasty flowering for the CAMELIA?

The flowering of the camellias spreads out over six months. The average times of flowering can be as follows defined:

• Very hasty: September/October/November (the primarily CAMELIA ).
• Hasty: November/December.
• Semi-season: February/Mars. Late: April at the beginning of May.
  

How to cultivate a camellia in a very calcareous ground?

There are two techniques which give excellent results:

1. The crop in pit consists after having dug a hole from approximately 3, to paper it dune breaks into leaf of felt-tip pen (geotextile). Lay out with the content, a bed of gravel or blast-furnace slag, in order to allow water overflow to evacuate itself. Fill with an acid substrate (mixture of mould, sands and ground of heather).
2. The crop in heightening is appropriate when the ground is of poor quality and the naturally difficult drainage, even impossible. To maintain in place the substrate, build a deduction on the ground (minimum 1 X ). Cross-pieces of railroad, bricks, hardcores are appropriate well. The height of ground must be approximately 50 cm. This method with the advantage of being able to be implemented to the rock grounds, the wet grounds, the terraces and to require much less effort than the digging of a pit.

Why the floral buttons of my camellia fall do prematurely?

The fall of the buttons is generally allotted to the dryness of the atmosphere, or the lack of watering. To cure it, it each evening should be sprinkled copiously as soon as the room temperature reaches 25 and to make sure that versed water enters the mound well right through. regularly ground to skin it, by using a small claw which will not damage the surface roots. Bathe the foliage to ensure a good hygroscopy.

Did you know?

• In Japan, one considers the camellia as the symbol of a life which is completed abruptly, because of the property which have the flowers abruptly to be detached and whole when they fade, instead of losing their petals the ones after the others.

• Following the success of “the Lady to the camellias” which also inspired in 1853 the opera of Made #CF5B74 “”, it was of good tone to carry a #FFFFFF camellia to the buttonhole. A tradition which was perpetrated until in the Thirties by Coco Chanel.

• In the language of the flowers, the camellia symbolizes excellence, the pride, the abnegation and modesty. The #FFFFFF camellia expresses the perfect beauty and clamp: “I am proud of your love”, just as the #FFE4FD camellia refers to also admiration. The #D05C75 camellia affirms a superiority without claim or the repentance. The camellia with double flowers wishes good luck and dedicates gratitude, while telling: “I recognize your beauty” or “I admire you”. To offer a camellia, it is to state a love perfect, to recognize an ideal sentimental relation.

Some worms!

“But the Camellia, monster of the crop,
Rose without ambrosia and lily without majesty,
Seem to flare itself at the seasons of coldness
For the vain troubles of virginity “
(Charles )