GROWING CAMELLIAS VHT109

Distance Education Plant Course

• Learn to identify and Grow different types of camellias
• For anateurs and professional gardeners and nurserymen
• Learn from qualified and experienced experts from both the UK and Australia
• Follow a passion, or work in horticulture

COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 8 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction
   • Review of the system of plant identification
   • General characteristics of the group
   • Information contacts (ie: nurseries, seed, clubs etc)
2. Culture
   • Planting
   • Staking
   • Mulching
   • Watering
   • Pest & disease
   • Feeding
   • Pruning
   • Protection from wind, salt air etc.
3. Propagation
   • Methods of propagating camellias
4. Using Camellias
   • Woodland planting
   • Garden beds
   • Specimins, ground cover, shade plantings
   • Topiary
   • Hedging
   • Pleaching
   • Espaliers
5. The most Commonly Grown Varieties
   • Selected C. japonica varieties reviewed
6. Other important Groups
   • Camellia sasanqua & varieties
   • Camelia reticulata and varieties
   • Camellia sinensis and varieties
7. The Lesser Grown Varieties
   • Review of other species
8. Special Assignment - On one selected plant or group.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Duration   100 hours

Aims

• Identify different camellias.
• Describe the cultural requirements common to most, if not all, camellias.
• Propagate camellias
• Determine and describe different ways of using Camellias.
• Describe the identification and culture of most commonly cultivated camellias.
• Describe the identification and culture of sasanqua and reticulata camellias.
• Discuss a range of lesser grown species and cultivars of Camellia.
• Discuss a specialist camellia related topic in depth

Where to Use Camellias

They have a myriad of uses for every climate and are worth growing for their beautiful flowers or hardy shrub habit.

There are many different ways camellias can be used in a garden. A very long-lived group of plants, there are some Camellia specimens that have lived for over one hundred years.

Camellias are used as an ornamental shrubbery plant, as topiary, or as a tub plant. They will grow surrounded by lawn or paving, and can even be espaliered. Both C. sasanqua and C. japonica can be trained as a hedge.

Camellia japonica is grown predominantly for its ornamental, glossy foliage and attractive flowers. It can also be used for topiary, as a hedge, or as a tub plant. Tea, the drink, is made from the leaves of a camellia (C. sinensis). Although not commonly seen, Camellia japonica and C. sasanqua have both been successfully grown as standards. Their flowers can also be used, when picked fresh, for a short-term flower display indoors, for example, floating them in a container of water as a table arrangement.

Woodland Plantings
In a larger garden, this involves planting camellias under tall trees in an attempt to recreate a natural forest habitat. While Camellias may produce good vegetative growth in dense shade, they don’t tend to set flowers as well if light levels are too low.
Deciduous trees are generally preferable in this situation (so light levels are higher over winter), although evergreens are acceptable provided the canopy is not too dense.
Camellias are often planted along with rhododendrons and azaleas in this type of situation. All of these plants like very similar conditions.

Garden Beds
Camellias are ideal as background shrubs in a garden bed, with either perennials or low woody shrubs in the foreground.

The Camellia varieties used in this type of situation should be selected according to:
• Flower Colour
• Time of flowering
• Foliage colour and texture
• Suitability to the light conditions

In an open bed, the plant may be more exposed to light than under the canopy of small trees. Some cultivars are more suited to this situation than others. (NB: Even though they almost all have green foliage; the shades of green can vary; and the young growth tips can also vary in colour)

Specimen Trees
There are thousands of varieties that can be grown as a single plant in the centre of a lawn, at the end of a path, or in some other prominent position to create a feature or focal point within a garden. In some localities, Camellias have even been used successfully as street trees.

Taller growing types such as varieties of Camellia reticulata are often the most appropriate for such situations.

Other species that can make successful specimen trees include:

C. tsaii; C. rosiflora and C. transnokoensis. C. japonica and some common hybrid cultivars can also be appropriate.

As with garden bed specimens, a specimen tree may find itself exposed to more intense light than it would under a shade tree. Keep that in mind when selecting a cultivar.

Ground Covers
Lower growing Camellias that have a sprawling growth habit have occasionally been used successfully as a ground cover. This can look particularly effective when they are planted alongside or in front of other taller growing varieties. Too maintain this ground cover effect, you may need to prune the taller growing shoots or tie them down with pegs in the ground.

Growing Camellias in Shade
Camellias grow very well in shady places; but sometimes you don’t have such a place and will need to create one in order to grow camellias well. Be mindful of the fact that extreme shade might actually be a disadvantage, and the roots of large shade trees can compete with Camellia roots for both water and moisture.

• Student discounts are available to anyone studying with ACS Distance Education.
• Both printed books and ebooks (as downloads) available

GROWING  FERNS by John Mason (publisher: Kangaroo Press)  Printed book

• Click on above link for info
• Sample pages available to download for all ebook
• E Books can be purchased online for immediate download (Can be read on a computer, ipad, iphone, lap top, most book readers or similar devices).
• GO TO www.acsbookshop.com for more titles