Camellia are surprisingly unusual as bonsai, which is unfortunate. There blooming period fits right in for many of our early spring shows. Camellia culture is similar to Azalea. they like a bit of shade, acidic soil, and a cool area with diffuse but good light.
Camellia japonica and
Camellia sasanqua are the two Camellia species that have been developed into hundreds of varieties of flower forms. Tea is brewed from plants closely related to our garden camellias.
Sasanqua camellias bloom in fall and some have a slight perfume. The camellia we'll be working with here today is a japonica variety with white blossoms, it has no odor whatsoever, but that doesn't stop anyone from trying to smell it.
My wife Kathy bought this particular tree at Grove Way Bonsai in Hayward, CA to commemorate our second wedding anniversary. It has bloomed all month and we enjoyed it in our home for a few days before it made a trip to her office. Thereafter it was in the cool greenhouse for two weeks and it produced a second round of blooms. This is the end of that second blooming.
The tree has a nice silhouette, but as we'll observe upon looking more closely there are some flaws that can be corrected, and some that really can't. The good news is that when it's in bloom, most people won't even notice.
Being a bonsai person, I like a tree I can appreciate for the other 11 months of the year. This article will discuss the repotting of the tree and some effort to correct problems.