Camellia identification

[Jennifer Schmidt]

Help! I've got several camellia bushes in my yard that I would love
to identify at least by species and preferibly even by variety. So,
let's play a game of "Name That Camellia!". :-)

Today's contestant is a lovely bush, approximately 4' high and 5'
wide. It starts flowering in late December here in my zone 7B garden
(NC), and is currently in full force. It always blooms later than my
other camellias. The blooms are a lovely mix of red-white, and almost
look like roses.

Any ideas? Sansanqua? Japonica? Doesn't one flower later than the
other?

Below are links to two digital photos I took of the flowers earlier
today....

http://garden.extemporaneous.org/0201camellia1-large.jpg
http://garden.extemporaneous.org/0201camellia2-large.jpg

Any help identifying this bush would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!

Jennifer Schmidt
jennifer...@appletons.com

[John Jones]

"Jennifer Schmidt" <jennifer...@appletons.com> wrote in
message news:yGdLPEXSkUpfaJ...@4ax.com...

> Help! I've got several camellia bushes in my yard that I would
love
> to identify at least by species and preferibly even by variety.
So,
> let's play a game of "Name That Camellia!". :-)
>

[...]

>
> Any ideas? Sansanqua? Japonica? Doesn't one flower later
than the
> other?
>
> Below are links to two digital photos I took of the flowers
earlier
> today....
>
> http://garden.extemporaneous.org/0201camellia1-large.jpg
> http://garden.extemporaneous.org/0201camellia2-large.jpg
>

This may or may not help. but I'm in zone 7b, and my sasanquas
start blooming in november and are done by late december. My
single Japonica hasn't bloomed yet (planted last april)

>
> Jennifer Schmidt
> jennifer...@appletons.com

[greg presley]

That's almost certainly a japonica - most sasanquas are single or semi
double, not fully double. The one you picture looks something like a variety
called Memphis Belle. There is also a variety from north Florida - Miss
Betty or something like that that has similar variegation. However, I'm
surprised that a japonica would bloom that early in NC - unless you are very
near the coast. In North Florida, the japonicas bloom Jan, Feb, March - so I
would have guessed Feb, March, April in your zone. Greg

"Jennifer Schmidt" <jennifer...@appletons.com> wrote in message
news:yGdLPEXSkUpfaJ...@4ax.com...

[Pam]

Sasanquas in the south can start blooming in September and are generally
finished by late December or early January; japonicas from November
through April. The form of the sasanqua tends to be a little more lax,
open and rangy compared to the more dense, rounded form of the japonica.
Sasanqua flowers are also seldom variegated as in your photos, although
they can be two-toned - usually with a different edge color. There are
literally thousands of camellia cultivars - to ID any one of them
accurately is tricky if not impossible. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd
say yours looks very much like Camellia japonica 'Governor Mouton'.
http://www.ykanda.jp/came99/atagawa/governor-mouton.jpg

Pam - gardengal

[Mike Prager]

I agree with others that it is almost certainly a variety of
C. japonica. The sasanquas bloom earlier, tend to have
smaller (and not usually double) flowers, and have smaller
leaves. Other species of camellia are rarely planted and they
generally have smaller and less showy flowers.

Looking through Macoboy's excellent photo book of camellias,
the varieties closest to yours are

'Dixie Knight Supreme'
'Emporor of Russia Variegated'
'Gigantea' (which is noted to have an open, weeping form
'Mikenjaku'

That doesn't rule out the clutivars suggested by others: many
cultivars have more than one name, and there are thousands.
You can often find pictures of a given one on the Web by
entering its name into Google.

Thanks for sharing your pictures of this beautiful plant with
us.

MHP

Mike Prager
Beaufort, NC (on the coast in zone 8)

[Jennifer Schmidt]

Thanks to all for your suggestions as to the identity of one of my
camellia bushes. I feel confident now that it is a japonica, and
appreciate knowing the differences between that and sasanquas.

Based on all of your feedback, I now also know that the camellias in
my backyard are all sasanquas as they're done flowering (and have
single colored flowers, and the bushes are more open in form, and the
flowers are either single or semi-double). I've already learned a
bunch from y'all. I'll have to wait until next fall though to
continue my game of "Name That Camellia!" since I don't have any
flower photos of my sasanquas. :-)

Jennifer

[Jennifer Schmidt]

Oh - one last camellia question. Will deadheading a camellia bush
noticeably extend the bloom period or not make much of a difference?

They're pretty big bushes, so I'm just wondering if it is worth the
effort.

Jennifer