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Camellia sasanqua ‘‘Sparkling Burgundy’’ has had quite a bit of work done on it over the years to thin the branch structure and to lift the lower levels to allow light below. This has made a feature of the size and age of the plant which is now more of a small tree than a shrub.
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Friday, April 29, 2011 TARANAKI DAILY NEWS 13
GARDENING www.taranakidailynews.co.nz
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Renovating old camellia plants: a step-by-stepguide with Abbie and Mark Jury.
Photos: ABBIE JURY
1Camellia sasanqua‘‘Sparkling Burgundy’’has had quite a bit of
work done on it over theyears to thin the branchstructure and to lift thelower levels to allow lightbelow. This has made afeature of the size andage of the plant which isnow more of a small treethan a shrub.
2However, this camellia has little in its favour. The toplayers of foliage are not in good health and lookscruffy and full of dead wood. We will rejuvenate it
by cutting it back very hard to bare wood. This is bestdone any time from now until early spring.
3The plant is virused which affects itsvigour. Virus in camellias is not alwaysbad. It is what gives variegated leaves
and two tone flowers. However, if you thenuse the cutting tools on a healthy camellia,you will transfer the virus. It pays to disinfectsaws and secateurs immediately afterfinishing the affected plant. You can do this bysimply dipping in a bucket containing dilutedbleach.
4Cut back to whatever level you wish. Most camelliaswill resprout and come again even when cut off atground level, but we want a bushy shrub about 1.5
metres high by summer so we are leaving bare woodystems around that height, cut a little lower at the sidesthan the centre to give a rounded shape. If you leavesome of the old trunks, you keep a strong structure
and shape for the bush.If you cut off at theground, you will bestarting over with acarpet of fresh shootswhich may not give agood long term shape.
5This Camellia yuhsienensis was cut back early lastspring to completely bare stems with not a singleleaf remaining. Such ruthless cutting forced dormant
leaf buds into life and it is now a bushy little shrubalthough we won’t get as many flowers as usual foranother year.
Vireya Rhododendron Rio RitaRio Rita was bred by the late OsBlumhardt, one of this country’sforemost plantsmen and plantbreeders in his time. It was namedfor the irrepressible Rita Watson andit always makes us smile because theflower is so well suited to the boldpersonality and immaculategrooming of the namesake. Rita wasvery keen on vireya rhododendronsand her North Shore garden boastedsome of the best grown plants wehave ever seen in a garden situationthough we were told shesubsequently gave up growingvireyas and took up line dancinginstead. Rio Rita is a leucogigas
hybrid (crossed with Dr Sleumer)and the flowers are voluptuous andfragrant. There are five flowers to atruss and this photograph is of twotrusses side by side, which is why itlooks quite so full. Each flower isabout 10cm across, which is large.
Most vireyas don’t have a setflowering season because they comefrom the equatorial areas where dayand night length is pretty much thesame all year. This means you canhave some in flower all the time ifyou have sufficient plants anddifferent varieties. However, theywon’t tolerate more than a degree ortwo of frost and wet feet will killthem very quickly. As a guide, thebigger and more lusciously fragrantthe flowers are and the larger theleaves, the more susceptible theywill be to cold temperatures and lessthan ideal conditions. This meansthat Rio Rita is by no means theeasiest vireya to grow well, let alonekeep alive at all, but if you have theright conditions, it certainly puts ona show. Abbie Jury
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