Camellia calamity

Le.whitaker

So we have a beautiful, well established Camellia in the garden which I think I might have cut back a *bit* too hard 2 years ago. I waited until the flowers had died back hoping that last year it would be even more glorious.....last year we had no flowers. Not a single one.
It's still very healthy, bushy, happy, no signs of disease or anything but I think I might have broken it?

Theveggardener

I got advice and was told I could hard cut my Camellia and did it didn't flower for 3 oe four year I also found this on the web it might help.

Why has my camellia not flowered this year?

Camellias don't like wet feet, so be sure the soil drains well. Too much shade may be the cause when camellias won't bloom. ... Withhold fertilizer the first year, and don't fertilize camellias in fall. Camellia bud mites, tiny pests that feed on the buds, may be another cause for camellias not blooming.

Dovefromabove

Camellias need lots of water in the late summer and autumn so that they can form the flower buds for the following spring.

Last year’s drought may well be to blame for the lack of blooms this year. 

I’d feed it and make sure it doesn’t go short of water this year, and hopefully you’ll get a good show next spring. 😊 

B3

I don't grow them but looking around locally, it's been an amazing year for camellias - in London anyway. I might even consider growing one!

Lyn

You can cut them right down to the ground and it won’t harm them, but yes, you have to wait a couple of years for it to flower again. But when it does it will be fantastic.
my mum had one so leggy it looked like those lolly pop type things you can buy, I sawed it off to the bottom of the trunk, planted it out in the garden and now it’s beautiful, the flowers are not quite out, much later than most of the county but here it is a couple of weeks ago.
 

Le.whitaker

Thanks guys, guess I'm just going to have to be patient

batwood14

They can be temperamental, both water, nutrition and bio-habits can all play a part as outlined above. I have several Camellias and at times its the young plants that don't flower but the established ones can also take a year or so off depending on the conditions.  This year they are flowering their socks off.