My camellias are KILLIN’ IT this year. I don’t know what the deal is {hence the research}, but I sure want to try to find out so I can replicate it. Each of my four camellias was moved in the early spring when we did the big yard project, so I didn’t have much hope for them this year.
WELL.
Showoff.
When we moved to Montgomery in high school my parents enrolled us in private school for the first time ever. Culture shock would be an understatement…more like cultural submersion into an ice bath. I still don’t get it why people have to be snobby. HAVE AT IT. MORE POWER TO YOU. Anyway, within 30 minutes of being in my first Montgomery private high school class wearing my carefully chosen Gap tweed skirt and cream blouse with the fabric colored buttons {all hail to you, the 90’s} a girl turned around and asked me if I would be attending the Camellia Ball this year.
I literally said, and I quote: the camellia what?
Let’s break down that confusion:
Camellia ka-meal-ya noun: Hi, I’m new here. If you’re looking for a way to make me feel excluded and on the fringe, maybe try mentioning a super-exclusive and ritzy club/event that I am highly likely not to be invited to because, you know, I’m new here.
Ball bol noun: Intended to confuse; not at all a game or activity, unless you consider being mean to the new girl a full-contact sport. Oh wait, you do?
So here’s what I’m finding about camellias:
Looks like the reason the pink camellia that came with the house didn’t do well before we moved it was because it was planted very close to an oak tree. It would seem that unlike mean girls, camellias don’t like competition.
As flowering season ends, if the plant don’t look very healthy they may be tired from showing all those blooms and exhausting their reserves. Add some fertilizer (same as use on rhododendrums) to perk them up. Mean girls can be fertilized with an extra coat of mascara.
Feed 2-3 times between April 1 and September 1. *Note this is also the feeding schedule of a mean girl.
Seems that they withstand pruning well, and I would like to try to shape them up and thin them a little in early spring for better blooming next year. See this Southern Living how-to for pruning tips.
{Adding those last 2 parts to my trusty calendar…} {And thinking about only eating 3 times in 5 months is making me jones for a Trader Joe’s sea salt caramel…lookout everybody, my public school is showing.}
