camelia - brown flowers & pruning

[chilliking]

i have a large camelia in my garden and have 3 questions:

1 - When it flowers (white) the flowers seem to go brown and die almost immediately. no sooner has it started to flow and it is all over. is this to be expected?

2 - The plant is too big for the border it is in. Is now the right time to prune it, just after it has finished flowering?

3) - Is there a rule about how much i can prune? Ideally i'd like to reduce the size by about half?

[rustylady]

The usual reason for camellia flowers going brown is that they get frosted, and then exposed to the morning sun. I have a huge pink camellia in the back garden (inherited) and it is planted against a north facing wall so doesn't get the morning sun. The flowers last for ages. As for pruning, yes you can prune after flowering. Found this link for you How to Care for Camellias - Burncoose Nurseries - plants by mail order direct to you - Camellia, Magnolia and Rhododendron Specialists

[Two_Sheds]

My camellia's flowers are starting to go brown now too: we've not had a frost for over a month, so I'm putting it down to the drought (no rain for about 6 wks now)

[rustylady]

My camellia's flowers are starting to go brown now too: we've not had a frost for over a month, so I'm putting it down to the drought (no rain for about 6 wks now)

Yes, they do go brown eventually, but I was assuming that Chilliking's flowers were going brown very soon after opening.

[Two_Sheds]

Mine are going brown on opening: if I touch the tree loads of them fall off

[Jeanied]

The buds are on the Camellia all winter - so mine had half browned buds and then half browned flowers - all in response to snow, frost and cold over last winter. I have just liberated the plant from all the brown bits (mind you it is small still) and the shrub is really growing away now!