We had a freak cold spell with freezing rain followed by snow and ten days of 10 degree temperatures. Most of the leaves are falling off my camellia. Is there something I can do, or is it a loss?

Most likely a loss.
Scratch twigs with your thumbnail and see if any have 'green' below. If you keep seeing green, there is hope.

It probably depends on the type of camellia that you have and the amount of cold. Drops to the low 10s have not been an issue at times. But, an early winter flowering camellia japonica or sinensis would probably have some sap moving as they tend to be blooming in mid-winter. So they are semi-dormant, at that stage. If they got cold enough, that could have caused some bark split or internal damage when the sap formed ice crystals.

Allow some type to pass so you can tell the extent of the damage and if it will return from the base. Camellias in the cold Zone 6 areas of the northeast can be deciduous and lose foliage but then they develop new foliage or return from the base around April.

On the other hand, a camellia sasanqua or a late flowering camellia japonica would have been completely dormant and thus would have escaped most of the damage. I had a similar issue myself and ended with one early blooming japonica currently in ICU and a completely unfazed sasanqua two feet away. You can do a scratch test but that will not tell you if the roots are still alive and if it will return from the base so, I would suggest to continue maintaining the soil well mulched, as evenly moist as possible, not fertilizing (until you decide if it is alive or not) & waiting until mid or late April. Everything here that was hit is very late leafing out including Forsythia and Flowering Quince.

Future alternatives to consider: Camellia Japonicas that bloom very early or late (in Spring), like Dr. Clifford Park's late growing "April Series", may be a better choice if this happens to you often. Or container growing of those varieties that bloom in the middle of the winter. Good luck, Bea.

Bea, I live in Russellville, so I know very well how our plants suffered during the recent cold. An excellent article by Janet Carson, recently retired as the Horticulture head of the U of A Extension Service appeared in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette about the effect of the cold here on our plants and how to deal with the damage. The article came out on March 20, the Saturday edition. You may want to see if you can access that article on the website. We are even further north than you are, and our coldest temp was -9, but our sasanquas faired very well with loss of a few leaves. leaves. The japonicas, many of which were beginning their bloom, were hit a little harder, with more leaf damage and some frozen flower buds, but my observation of them has shown them to have recovered nicely and are blooming now. Knowing the specific camellia variety would help to determine if you have know it. There are many japonicas that are marginal for growing in Arkansas, even as far south as Little Rock.

Here is the article Lynda mentioned:

https://www.arkansasonline.com...

Thanks, Luis, for posting that link! I'm a little busy this morning.