QUESTION
I’ve grown several camellia seedlings collected from my old one and they are now flowering this winter. Many blooms are being attacked by an animal or insect causing the buds to split open. Can you help me please as I love growing these seedlings?
Helen, Garden Clinic member
ANSWER
Camellia seedlings generally don’t produce flowers identical to their parents as they are hybrids created by human interference or nature. Sometimes, you can strike the jackpot but hybrids are mostly average performers. That said, I know many gardeners love the challenge. Your flowers are not suffering animal or insect attack but suffering from a common characteristic called ‘balling’. It occurs due to inherited qualities of the variety, like producing too many buds at one union, exposure to morning sun ’pressure cooking’ the buds, and too Balled over many petals in the bud heating up before opening. Grafting onto a vigorous understock can often help overcome sluggish flowers.
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