camellias in aldi

seefin

Only became interested in gardening last summer and am clueless! Have seen camellia shrubs around neighbourhood and totally fallen in love with them. However garden is small so wouldn't want it to grow big or spread too much. By cutting back every year,could you contain it? Also would those for sale in aldi be healthy?

paddy147

seefin wrote: »

Only became interested in gardening last summer and am clueless! Have seen camellia shrubs around neighbourhood and totally fallen in love with them. However garden is small so wouldn't want it to grow big or spread too much. By cutting back every year,could you contain it? Also would those for sale in aldi be healthy?

Aldi and Lidl put them out on the shelves and then forget about them then...then wilt and die in the shop from lack of water

The quicker you get one,then the better condition it will be in.


I bought a load of bird nest boxes,bird feeders and bird seed in Aldi this morning.

Some nice pot plants and outdoor shrubs there too.

shawnee

Bought them in Aldi before and they grew quite well. Camelias do not like lime and in many areas are better grown in containers. They are a wonderful plant and are slow growing. If you plant them in limestone soil they will fail.;)

seefin

shawnee wrote: »

Bought them in Aldi before and they grew quite well. Camelias do not like lime and in many areas are better grown in containers. They are a wonderful plant and are slow growing. If you plant them in limestone soil they will fail.;)

Soil in my area is acidic so would be ok. Called to aldi this evening but when saw the expected growth was 6 metres had second thoughts. Reckon a max of 2 metres would suit my garden. Anyone know if could contain spread and height of the shrub to keep it small ?

paddy147

Well they look ok from what I saw this evening in Aldi.

lottpaul

seefin wrote: »

Soil in my area is acidic so would be ok. Called to aldi this evening but when saw the expected growth was 6 metres had second thoughts. Reckon a max of 2 metres would suit my garden. Anyone know if could contain spread and height of the shrub to keep it small ?

Circumference of the plants may be more of an issue than their height. Mine are almost as round as they are tall. I have pruned some from time to time, use lots as cut flowers and they seem to recover fine.

Examined some in Aldi myself - bought a bicolour as a gift and thought it was potted too deep -- will have a better look when I plant it.
Paddy is exactly right when he says buy early -- once out on the shelves they are never again watered or cared for in any way so buy as quickly as possible.

I see Aldi and Lidl have their fruit trees out next week too.

paddy147

lottpaul wrote: »

Circumference of the plants may be more of an issue than their height. Mine are almost as round as they are tall. I have pruned some from time to time, use lots as cut flowers and they seem to recover fine.

Examined some in Aldi myself - bought a bicolour as a gift and thought it was potted too deep -- will have a better look when I plant it.
Paddy is exactly right when he says buy early -- once out on the shelves they are never again watered or cared for in any way so buy as quickly as possible.

I see Aldi and Lidl have their fruit trees out next week too.

Aldi have various fruit bushes at the moment for 3 euro each.

My girlfriend bought a good few of them 2 years ago,planted them on her allotment and got a very good crop off of them in the summer just gone.:)

The end result was lots of lovely homemade pies and tarts to eat after dinner each evening.:D


Again...buy them asap.;)

pwurple

Judging by that photo paddy147 posted those camillias are very recently repotted, and topdressed to make them look like a more established plant than they are. You're buying a very young plant there with a whole lot of compost to fool people into thinking it's a decent size rootball. Nothing wrong with the plants probably, just a bit of cloak and daggers on the pricing/size.

You can cut camillias, I give mine a cut every year to keep them tidy.

Mind the fruit varieties in there as well, and check for any tiny sign of disease. Our allotments have been the victim of some very invasive aldi raspberies in one of the allotments, and the pear and peach trees all had rust and leaf curl by the summer.

paddy147

pwurple wrote: »

Judging by that photo paddy147 posted those camillias are very recently repotted, and topdressed to make them look like a more established plant than they are. You're buying a very young plant there with a whole lot of compost to fool people into thinking it's a decent size rootball. Nothing wrong with the plants probably, just a bit of cloak and daggers on the pricing/size.

Actually they are far from full of compost.......and do have nice healthy big root system.:)

So there is nothing wrong with any part of the plant,or its root system,like you are claiming.

paddy147

seefin wrote: »

Only became interested in gardening last summer and am clueless! Have seen camellia shrubs around neighbourhood and totally fallen in love with them. However garden is small so wouldn't want it to grow big or spread too much. By cutting back every year,could you contain it? Also would those for sale in aldi be healthy?

There is also large Camellias in Lidl today,for 12 euro.

Had a look at them this morning and nothing wrong with them at all.Good healthy root system on them.

All have buds and flowers justabout starting to open on them.

Hope this helps.:)

seefin

paddy147 wrote: »

There is also large Camellias in Lidl today,for 12 euro.

Had a look at them this morning and nothing wrong with them at all.Good healthy root system on them.

All have buds and flowers justabout starting to open on them.

Hope this helps.:)

Thanks paddy. Still debating if garden is too small. I know someone mentioned earlier that they cut back their camellia but can if it was bigger than 5 ft high and 5 ft spread,then my garden is def too small. Could i keep it this size for the next 20 years?

paddy147

seefin wrote: »

Thanks paddy. Still debating if garden is too small. I know someone mentioned earlier that they cut back their camellia but can if it was bigger than 5 ft high and 5 ft spread,then my garden is def too small. Could i keep it this size for the next 20 years?

If you need to prune it back to a specific height and spread,then prune/cut it back after it has flowered.

Or you could keep it in a reasonable sized outdoor garden planter pot.:)

paddy147

seefin wrote: »

Thanks paddy. Still debating if garden is too small. I know someone mentioned earlier that they cut back their camellia but can if it was bigger than 5 ft high and 5 ft spread,then my garden is def too small. Could i keep it this size for the next 20 years?

You could stick it into a nice outdoor planter if you wanted to.

It would quite possibly make for a nice feature in the garden...and you still have garden space to plant something else aswell.

Just an idea.:)