What to Plant Beneath Camellias

Tony & Moira Ryan, Wainuiomata New Zealand
Average annual climate (Zone 9)
Minimum -2°C; Maximum 28°C Rainfall 2000mm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diane Whitehead" <voltaire@islandnet.com>

> Karrie,
>
> I was surprised to see you consider camellia to be very shallow- rooted.
> I consider them to have deep roots, particularly  compared  to the many
> rhododendrons I grow.  Camellias grown from seeds in situ  develop a
> taproot, and I grow my seedlings in very deep pots to  accommodate the
> long roots.
>
> Rhododendrons have a very wide mat of mostly-fibrous roots, though  they
> do get some woody horizontal ones with age.
>
> I have never had even a large rhododendron (over my head high) die  from
> being moved, but I no longer attempt to move even a little  (waist-high)
> camellia, as they do die.

 Hi Diane
I was greatly surprised to see you have found Camellias producing deep
roots, as this has certainly not been my experience. Possibly it is because
all the ones I have been handled have been nursery stock and may have been
trained from the start by being container grown from cuttings or if
seedlings very likely had their tap roots cut when small. Anyway all the
Camellias I have handled have always had a thick pad of fibrous roots very
similar to a Rhododendron and have been perfectly movable even when well
grown. The largest I have seen successfully moved (actually many years ago)
by a neighbour would have been all of  1.5 m high. It was a bit unhappy to
begin with but with fairly sever pruning gradually recovered and as far as I
know is still alive about forty years later.

Like many forest understory species they do not have to put their water
roots down deep in nature to avoid drying out in summer and, as the richest
feeding is always in the surface layers, they tend to have a  thick mass of
feeding roots very close to the surface.

Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan, Wainuiomata New Zealand
Average annual climate (Zone 9)
Minimum -2°C; Maximum 28°C Rainfall 2000mm
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