Friday, April 29, 2011 TARANAKI DAILY NEWS
GARDENING
Renovating old camellia plants: a step-by-step
guide with Abbie and Mark Jury.
2 5
However, this camellia has little in its favour. The top
layers of foliage are not in good health and look
scruffy and full of dead wood. We will rejuvenate it
by cutting it back very hard to bare wood. This is best
done any time from now until early spring.
Vireya Rhododendron Rio Rita
Rio Rita was bred by the late Os
Blumhardt, one of this country’s
foremost plantsmen and plant
breeders in his time. It was named
for the irrepressible Rita Watson and
it always makes us smile because the
flower is so well suited to the bold
personality and immaculate
grooming of the namesake. Rita was
very keen on vireya rhododendrons
and her North Shore garden boasted
some of the best grown plants we
have ever seen in a garden situation
though we were told she
subsequently gave up growing
vireyas and took up line dancing
instead. Rio Rita is a leucogigas
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1
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.
Photos: ABBIE JURY
3
The plant is virused which affects its
vigour. Virus in camellias is not always
bad. It is what gives variegated leaves
and two tone flowers. However, if you then
use the cutting tools on a healthy camellia,
you will transfer the virus. It pays to disinfect
saws and secateurs immediately after
finishing the affected plant. You can do this by
simply dipping in a bucket containing diluted
bleach.
4
Cut back to whatever level you wish. Most camellias
will resprout and come again even when cut off at
ground level, but we want a bushy shrub about 1.5
metres high by summer so we are leaving bare woody
stems around that height, cut a little lower at the sides
than the centre to give a rounded shape. If you leave
some of the old trunks, you keep a strong structure
and shape for the bush.
If you cut off at the
ground, you will be
starting over with a
carpet of fresh shoots
which may not give a
good long term shape.
This Camellia yuhsienensis was cut back early last
spring to completely bare stems with not a single
leaf remaining. Such ruthless cutting forced dormant
leaf buds into life and it is now a bushy little shrub
although we won’t get as many flowers as usual for
another year.
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the Leaves
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and the flowers are voluptuous and Come in for a Blower, walk out with a ShredderVac for no extra cost!
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Most vireyas don’t have a set Available at Feilding Herald, Feilding United Travel STIHL SHE 81 Electric STIHL SH 56 STIHL SH 86
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different varieties. However, they
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bigger and more lusciously fragrant
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