Camellia advice

[raine]

Hi all, a couple of months ago, I cut down a camellia with the view of removing it. It's now started to shoot from the base and I was wondering if I should keep it.trouble is, I need the space for something's else ( hence the original cutting!) and what I need to know is this: will camellias bloom if you keep the shrub very small?


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[Martin H]

Yes, you should be able to keep it pretty small. Cut it back every year after flowering (end of May, usually). It should produce some flower buds for the next year on the subsequent growth.

[Two_Sheds]

will camellias bloom if you keep the shrub very small?

How small is very small?
I prune mine back every Sept (which is when I have the time), just taking off those branches which block our window and the footpath. It's 7ft high at a guess, and wide, but quite elegant as I've trained it to be a tree (single stem) rather than a shrub (multi-stems)

The one I have in a pot isn't doing well at all. It's still 18" high after 4 years, hasn't flowered and lost all its leaves this summer (too hot? too dry? needs repotting maybe).

[Martin H]

I've seen Camellias given the bonsai treatment (e.g. Camellia Bonsai Species Guides), but the more you artificially constrain them the more carefully you need to look after them.