Rob,
do you mean like this:

<a href=" http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/V3IP4U0nm3tCLn0P_cY17Q?feat=embedwebsit e"><img src=" " /></a>

I was as foolish as those old Soviet task-masters and planted this in September, 2009. In a spot where I knew it would be blasted by winds fresh from Siberia. It dutifully gave me pink blossoms in early winter, not knowing what was coming. This photo shows what it had in store.

Amazingly, it survived and is even trying to grow some now.

--Erik

I bought one last month and I'm still in the process of finding an suitable planting site.
These Camillia are quite a regular sight in gardens here and I took a liking to this one, Camillia 'Bob Hope'.

Cheers, Barrie.

Wow, I never thought they were so tough guys. Erik's baby really got his hit all right. I read that they do not need the same acidness in soil terms, like they would be ok with a PH of around 6....
Do you have experience in this field, too?

Thanks for all!!!!!!
Rob

My home pH meter is an inexpensive "Rapitest" unit. It says the soil around my Camellia is 7.1. I get the same for ever spot in my garden and in every container, so I don't trust it.
--Erik

C. japonica - Reliably hardy (long term) down to zone 7. Temps much below the 0ºF to 5ºF range for more than a few days, expect trouble.
They are at their clean green best around here. Some species are quite frost sensitive.

Cheers, Barrie.

Thanks guys for your comments! (I'll try Camellias, moreover, I'll go for the real tea, too. Imagine, sipping away your own brew..)
Rob

Erik,

Sorry to come back to the same topic (as my daughter would say: Daddy, it is so last month 🙂 ), but do you by any chance recall what variety you have? I am still amazed by your picture.....

I have started collecting estimates for some soil work in the garden, then comes Camellia Forest in NC...

THANKS!!!!
Rob

I'm definitely going to be following this thread, since I've had the idea of growing these plants in my 6a garden for some time! I saw some great deals on these when I was in Virginia Beach on vacation a couple weeks ago, but just not enough room in the car since the southern magnolia took up all the extra space:)

Rob,
sorry to take so long to get back to you. I "try" to write down my plants but for some reason never wrote this one down.
As I was doing some cleaning in the Gazebo today (I appropriated it as a staging place for winter protection stuff) I found the tag from the camellia I impulsively bought and planted in September.
The tag says, Camelia japonica "Winter's Star" and claims a hardiness to zone 7. I got to the bottom of Zone 7 this winter, it was not at all established and it was in a horrible microclimate but survived with only some leaf loss and is growing well this spring.
For comparison with other BLEs planted in 2009, a Photinia in the ground since May died. No protection--those are supposed to be safe here. Dwarf burford holly looked great all winter. Two of three Euonymous fortunei made it and are growing great now. All but one Nandina died, but they went into winter suffering horribly from summer heat. Indian hawthorn is recovering nicely after ~50% defoliation and is even blooming now. I protected it like a palm, though, as I wasn't sure about it. Golden bamboo (P. aurea) died to the ground but two tiny shoots are coming up 3'/1m from the main clump. Dwarf pomegranate (Punica) was not a BLE but I thought it'd be a deciduous shrub. No, died to the roots but it is coming back from roots.
Back to the main topic, yes, try Camellia. Search for varieties reputed to be winter hardy, and site them and care for them better than I did.
--Erik

Thanks so much, Erik! I am having my garden soil changed - being pure clay, or concrete I should say - and connecting it to a Stewartia pseudocamellia, I'll start with a real tea (C. sinensis var sinensis) hedge. It can take even full sun! As an accent plant, I am going to use C. oleifera Lu Shan, wich was the parent of most cold hardy hybrids. This should be OK, too, in Oakville. Once these grow to a reasonable height like 2 feet, I am going to plant some more sensitive C. varieties in front of it.

I think Nandina would be more than proper as company. Also, I will consider some clumping bamboos, tree peonies, Sarcococca, Rhododendrons, Pieris and hardy Puchias (F. magellanica). I am going to add 3 Trachy wagnerii, too, to increase the scores of the game.

I hardly wait to do the planting and to send some picks.

In the meantime, my front garden is getting some attention, but still have to wait for the Town's approval for the full planting (Trachy, needle, Sabal, Yucca gloriosa, LAgerstroemia x 'Zuni', Nandina, fig 'Brown Turkey', Vitex, Ceanothus, Fuchia, Hydrangea macrophylla and Clethra... Half of the plants are already purchased and begging for some planting, but sorry, guys, I need the stamp.....

Rob

Thanks so much, Erik! I am having my garden soil changed - being pure clay, or concrete I should say - and connecting it to a Stewartia pseudocamellia, I'll start with a real tea (C. sinensis var sinensis) hedge. It can take even full sun! As an accent plant, I am going to use C. oleifera Lu Shan, wich was the parent of most cold hardy hybrids. This should be OK, too, in Oakville. Once these grow to a reasonable height like 2 feet, I am going to plant some more sensitive C. varieties in front of it.

I think Nandina would be more than proper as company. Also, I will consider some clumping bamboos, tree peonies, Sarcococca, Rhododendrons, Pieris and hardy Puchias (F. magellanica). I am going to add 3 Trachy wagnerii, too, to increase the scores of the game.

I hardly wait to do the planting and to send some picks.

In the meantime, my front garden is getting some attention, but still have to wait for the Town's approval for the full planting (Trachy, needle, Sabal, Yucca gloriosa, LAgerstroemia x 'Zuni', Nandina, fig 'Brown Turkey', Vitex, Ceanothus, Fuchia, Hydrangea macrophylla and Clethra... Half of the plants are already purchased and begging for some planting, but sorry, guys, I need the stamp.....

Rob

Rob,

Where did you find Trachy wagnerii in Southern Ontario?

Tavi

One part of why I moved out of Tulsa was their restrictions on gardens. I thought my farm was in the country but after buying it learned it is technically in the city of Bixby, a Tulsa suburb. So far I haven't had trouble with things like a front-yard compost pile but that might change if housing developments spread out this way.
So, once you get that stamp, you'll have a great garden. We'll all want photos!
I bought Euonymous "chollipo" and two Celeste figs yesterday. The nursery was out of winter jasminne and Indian Hawthorn. 🙁
Also a Bougainvillea and Mandevillia. The Boug. will go into a hanging basket. The new Mandevillia will replace the Passiflora I hoped would over-winter but didn't. I'll dig the Mandevillia and bring it in for the winter. I did that with two this past winter and they did great indoors; even in a rather cold room they grew a tiny bit.
Still agonizing over whether to buy a large Sabal palmetto for sale in a nearby parking lot, trucked up from Florida.
--Erik

I actually have two huge C/J that are planted on the SE corner of my house, shielded from winds, they have gotten so big and I have had to cut them back from the house in the late summer months, they bloom beautiful fragrant pink flowers in October/November. I rarely see them on that sideoff the house as I never really venture out there, maybe they are doing so well because I leave them alone to their own devices.....??
Pic attached from last fall blooms.