A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees Camellia and Gardenias in South, MS

I live in Southern Mississippi (not on the coast).

We’ve had gotten a sprout (with roots) of a Camellia about 8 years ago from my great grandmother’s bush (which is now probably 15 feet tall!). Well it’s been in the front yard for the 8 years, which is not good soil (really, nothing around here is, all clay) and not well-drained. After 8 years it's not taller than 4 FEET!

So last November, I moved It to another part of the yard and added a lot of top soil, and Miracle-Grow garden soil. It's pretty much the same size, but looks a lil better. It hardly blooms, but does have buds on it at the moment. Some of the leaves have holes in them, and some are brown/red.

Now I’ve read that it doesn’t like a lot of water or is a heavy feeder. OOPS! Then another site says something else. I read you can prune it, so I cut some some of the ugly out. I just don’t know about this bush. I’ll try and get some pics.

On the other hand, we have 6 Gardenias, which was just baby sprouts 8 years ago – are now 7 feet tall and 6 feet wide!! Has anyone seen these bushes get that big? To top it off, the yard has been abandoned for a good 4 years, so they never got feed. They don’t bloom a lot however, but I believe it’s because they are all out in full sun – because we have no shade!

Thanks,

Mike