So right, Alice. The only really great looking camellias I've seen here have been in very large pots. I do love them but, gosh the blooms last such a short time!
My mother used to grow them to great size up in Vancouver BC where it is cool and rainy most of the time and they have wonderful acidic loam. The blooms lasted longer there, but if it was very rainy, they would collapse, too. It had to be mostly just cool and cloudy or foggy for them to last more than a week or so.
