Camellia flowers, similar to roses, look great against the background of dark green leaves. For a plant to be just like that, it must be properly cared for. This process is simple and exciting. Content:
- Camellia varieties
- Landing features
- Conditions of detention
- Watering and feeding
- Reproduction methods
Camellia is an evergreen plant belonging to the Teahouse family; a delicious tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. Due to its decorative properties, camellia has won the love of many flower growers.
Variety of camellia varieties
It has been cultivated in Japan since the days of the samurai. There, interest in this flower faded away, then flared up again. Now camellia is grown in warm regions with a tropical climate: in the south of the United States, on the Black Sea coast of Russia and in other countries.
There are several types of these plants, in particular, camellia olive, Chinese, Japanese, mountain:
- Camellia oleifera … This is an olive camellia that grows along the banks of rivers and in the forests of China, at an altitude of 500 to 1300 meters. Sometimes this species is cultivated to obtain seeds from which useful oil is squeezed out. It is an evergreen tree that can grow up to 10 m. It blooms from September to mid-October with white flowers. Then the fruits appear, which are a box with many seeds.
- Camellia sinensi … The Chinese camellia prefers to grow in the subtropical and tropical mountain forests of Southeast Asia. This is a tree up to 10 meters high with fragrant flowers that appear in August. The fruits ripened in October-December are a flattened tricuspid box. The leaves of the plant are used to make tea, so the second name of the Chinese camellia is the tea bush.
- Camellia japonica … Japanese camellia is a bush or tree that grows up to 15 meters. Lives in the forests of Korea, China, Japan. The plant blooms profusely from December to April. Flowers - 4 cm in diameter. They are terry, semi-double, plain, red, pink, white or variegated. Garden varieties have been developed on the basis of Japanese camellia. These are Camellia Buttermint, Adolphe audusson, Lavinia magg, Coquettii, Winter rose, Sea foam.
- Camellia sasanqua … Mountain camellia grows in mountain forests on the island of Okinawa and Kyushu. These are bushes up to 5 meters high with reddish shoots and thin branches. The flowers are simple, fragrant pink, white or red and bloom from November to January.
Features of planting camellia
This plant can be admired at home if you plant it in a pot of the appropriate diameter. Take the soil that is intended for growing rhododendrons, azaleas. If not, you can cook it yourself.
To do this, you need to take one part of leafy earth, peat, coniferous soil and mix with half of the sand. Camellia prefers acidic soils with a pH reaction of 4.5-5.
Choose a pot not very deep, but its width should be sufficient. Pour expanded clay or other drainage at the bottom of the container, then soil and plant the plant. At the same time, make sure that the root collar is above ground level.
You need to replant the plant 1-2 times a year in the fall or at the beginning of winter. For better branching, after transplanting, pinch off the top of the plant.
Conditions for keeping camellia
Camellia will grow well in a cool environment. The air temperature in summer should reach + 18 + 20 ° С, in winter - + 8 + 10 ° С, during the flowering period - + 15 ° С.
For camellia to bloom well, it needs a short daylight hours. Optimally, if it is 12-14 hours.
Flower buds are laid at a temperature of + 18 + 20 ° C. If the temperature drops below, and the place where the plant is kept is shady, then the buds may not form at all. If the temperature rises above + 20 ° C, then flowering may become premature, which will affect the quality of the flowers. In this case, the buds may completely fall off.
Camellia bloom lasts from December to February. At this time, you cannot rearrange the plant to another place, turn the pot around its axis. For the growth of axillary buds in October-November, shoots are pruned.
Watering and feeding camellia
In summer, the plant needs to be watered when the top layer dries up. In winter, watering is reduced, but not stopped. If the camellia does not have enough water, it will shed its leaves; with excessive waterlogging, they begin to turn brown.
Water should only be watered with settled water. It is recommended to put containers with camellia on pallets on which sand or expanded clay is poured. They are periodically moistened to create an appropriate microclimate for the plant.
Camellia should be fed once every 3 weeks, year-round, using full mineral fertilizer for this. It is good if there are trace elements, but camellia does not like calcium and magnesium. Therefore, before buying, read the composition of the fertilizer. For feeding, 1 gram of it is diluted in 1 liter of water, then the camellia is poured over wet soil.
Camellia needs to be sprayed quite often, it loves high humidity.
Camellia breeding methods
Camellia is propagated by seeds or cuttings, the latter method is used more often. To do this, cut off the apical non-lignified cuttings 6-8 centimeters long in January or July. They should have 3-5 developed leaves. They do not need to be placed in water; they must be planted in a prepared substrate. It is made from peat and sand, taken in equal proportions.
For better rooting, you need to soak the cuttings in a solution of heteroauxin or root, and then plant them in the prepared soil. You can first dip the cut in phytohormone powder, and then plant. After that, the plant is watered from a watering can, placed on a windowsill, where there is no direct sunlight.
Rooting takes one and a half to two months. Why are cuttings transplanted into pots, where they will grow until next year. Then you will need to transplant the camellia into a slightly larger container.
If you want to propagate camellia seeds, then soak them for a day in a damp cloth, put in a warm place. Then plant one seed at a time in 5cm pots or a box. When two true leaves appear at the seedlings, they dive, seating them less often or in separate pots. If you immediately planted the seeds in separate small containers, then you do not need to dive. When the seedlings grow up, they are provided with a large area of nutrition, transplanted into pots with a diameter of 10 cm.
How to grow camellia - watch the video:
If you take proper care of the camellia, put the plant in a bright, cool place where there is sufficient air humidity, then it will delight you in winter, when there are so few bright colors around, with unusually lush and beautiful flowers.
