By the way, those different colored blooms are growing from the same plant. I don't know if two cultivars were mistakenly grafted together, or if it's a genetic sport, or what - but I love it that way! My other camellia (not shown) produces light pink blooms.

Beautiful fancy blooms, Mike. I have a camellia bush with three different types of blooms, but I'm pretty sure it was grafted that way. Not sure, though, because it was here before I bought the house. Anyway, it's fun.

Rats. Why does all the supercool plants not grow here?

Mike those camellias are astounding! i bought April Dawn at a nursery in Oklahoma City two or 3 years ago and it's still only 1 ft tall. Actually I think it was taller than that when I bought it. It's on the east side where the house is stone. i suspect it needs more humidity in the summer. it blooms off and on in late spring, nothing like yours does. Did you amend the soil in any way? They told me to plant it in a mixture of peat and cotton compost because we're fairly alkaline.

Thanks Zuzu, I just went outside and took some cuttings to make a center piece for the dining table. I just hated the thought of possibly losing them to the freeze tonight. Brown camellia flowers are never very attractive!

Thanks Cindi. I heavily amended the soil, by planting it in my own mix of one-sixth native soil, one-sixth garden/top soil, one-third composted manure, and one-third peat moss. I occasionally use a fertilizer for "acid-loving" plants (always sounds like they enjoy tripping out on LSD when you read that). Any of the azalea, rhododendron, holly, or evergreen fertilizers are good for that. I planted them on the north side of the house with various wind-breakers around them, but not so much that they don't get good circulation, which is definitely needed.

We have to amend the same way to keep azaleas or rhodies, and the hole has to be twice as wide and deep as the plant so you can amend everything around it. Pretty sure mine get too much "circulation", you know...30 mph, all day and night. We're not called People of the South Wind for nothing.
You need to call that naysayer back and show him how to successfully grow camellias!

Beautiful blooms Mike, I hope you can add them to the database please! Here are the links:
Japanese Camellia (Camellia japonica 'April Dawn')
Camellia (Camellia japonica 'April Kiss')

I completely agree with Zuzu about mechanics taking advantage of women. Contractors, too, for that matter. My neighbor took her car in for what she "thought" was a bad radiator a few months ago because she overheated. The guy never even looked under the hood, just told her she needed a new radiator. She called me in a panic saying he wanted 400 plus bucks to fix it, so I drove up there and looked under the hood...which he DID NOT like. I told her it was just the top hose that was bad, I told her to pull her car out of his lot and park it up the street, then I replaced BOTH hoses for her (for all of $23.00 and change) and it runs fine now.

Speaking of things that won't grow in certain zones, the nurseries here are selling PEONIES. Yeah...like they'll even grow here ! There's a sucker born every minute.

This is the earliest spring I can ever recall. Everything is blooming 6 weeks early at least. This has me in hyper panic mode because I'm on the garden tour again this year and by the time May 5th rolls around my roses will be in between bloom cycles.

Sue: Great pictures of the show, and nice to see your mom again !

Mike: What became of Mulch Mountain ???

Mike (CalSurf) - Why wouldn't peonies grow there? They do marvelous here... can't have 'em, though. One plant DH won't let me have. Long story behind a peony.

That mountain of mulch has now been spread across every last inch of the gardens! I put it absolutely everywhere I could think of, whether it was needed or not.

As for peonies, they need a period of sustained winter cold in order to set buds and bloom.

Ahhh, I didn't know that! Nice to know that there's some things that I can grow that Paradise.. er, California cannot!

We can grow some peonies, just Mike can't. So. Calif. is much milder in the winter and the herbaceous peonies require about 400 hours of chilling temperatures. Zuzu has peonies, I think the tree peonies is what she said.
But Mike can try with a bit of effort:
http://freshdirt.sunset.com/20...
or
http://www.gardenguides.com/11...
And this site was very helpful, suggesting:
"VARIETIES FOR MILD CLIMATES

The most successful varieties for mild climates, according to Ross, are early blooming double-flowered peonies and any single-flowered and Japanese types (the early, mid-, and late season ones all do fine). Double varieties that bloom mid- to late season are poor candidates for mild climates: they may produce flower buds, but warm weather usually keeps them from opening properly.

And don't expect any peonies to reach their normal, cold-climate heights of up to 3 feet. In Ross's garden, the foliage grows to about 2 feet tall, with the flowers rising above the leaves.

Some of her successes include 'Charlie's White', 'Carol Charm', 'Doreen', 'Fairy's Petticoat', 'Krinkled White', 'Mons. Jules Elie', 'Mrs. F. D. Roosevelt', 'Richard Carvel', and 'Toro-No-Maki'."

http://findarticles.com/p/arti...

I thought I was special.. oh well, I still have lilacs!

Love lilacs! I bought a white one a couple of weeks ago and last fall, Zuzu dug one of hers up for me.

Sue - do you know which white? I have Mount Baker. VERY dependable... no matter how bad the weather gets with drought/cold/hot/wind, it ALWAYS performs. I love my Mount Baker. I'm going to have the following blooming for me this year (that I know of 100%):

Common Purple, Dappled Dawn, Charles Joly, Mount Baker, Wedgwood Blue, James McFarland.

Possibly having my Primrose, Ludwig Spaeth, & Saugeana bloom for me this year. I also have another "blue" lilac, Wonderblue, but I'm not sure if it's going to bloom this year. I lost Sensation, so I'll have to replace that one (wasn't a strong lilac when I bought it last year). Need to get a President Grevy & a Tinkerbell if I can find Tinkerbell for a decent price. I lost my two Scotch Brooms, so I'll replace them with lilacs.

My white one is 'Betsy Ross', a great warm climate one. A shot of it on DG
Mine is about 2 ft tall and has 2 bloom trusses on it, when it stops raining, I'll have to take a picture of it, the blooms are so bright.

It's odd that, although I am in the same growing zone as you California folks, I can't grow either lilacs or peonies - let me rephrase that: it's not odd that "I" can't grow those things; I am a very lax gardener; but they actually don't grow here for anyone. Our cold weather is the same but we have less cool weather?

PPal - Huh... wonder why. I know that they are a heavy drinker in the winter. They need LOTS of moisture to produce good blooms. When we have a dry winter I make sure that I water them the same as a tree otherwise I don't get any blossoms at all. My mom's the same zone I am and is ripping out 2 lilacs that are about 20 years old & have never bloomed once. She's got a black thumb for plants, for sure...

Sue - Bloom trusses? Is that what the bloom stalks are called? And why only 2? The whole bush should be covered.

It's in a 1 gal pot so it's new. Only two branches have blooms.

There are more factors involved than just a zone number. Here's an explanation regarding zones:

"Problems in the West

Many factors beside winter lows, such as elevation and precipitation, determine western growing climates in the West. Weather comes in from the Pacific Ocean and gradually becomes less marine (humid) and more continental (drier) as it moves over and around mountain range after mountain range. While cities in similar zones in the East can have similar climates and grow similar plants, in the West it varies greatly. For example, the weather and plants in low elevation, coastal Seattle are much different than in high elevation, inland Tucson, Arizona, even though they're in the same zone USDA zone 8. "

http://www.garden.org/zipzone/