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Old 02-26-2021, 12:01 PM
 
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The home we moved into has five camellia trees that are overgrown. 3 of the trees are in a far corner of the backyard hidden by the large shed built on the property. Two of the trees are near the back patio. I’ve had to cut back the lower branches of the two trees near the patio as they were touching the home and patio. The ones by the shed I’d like to have removed. Is there a market for such trees? Would a landscaping company remove and re-use such trees in other developments? What animals (birds, bees, wasp, hornet) pollinate these flowers? What are some pruning/trimming examples to maintain these trees?
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Old 02-26-2021, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Canada
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Pictures would be helpful to get perspective about their size and type and placements.

.
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Old 02-26-2021, 01:10 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoisite View Post
Pictures would be helpful to get perspective about their size and type and placements.

.
Will do this later. Have to make a store run and pick up prescription refill.
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Old 02-26-2021, 01:42 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
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It's hard for me to understand anyone not wanting a camellia, but I suppose the thing to do is to start contacting local nurseries and landscape companies to see if they will give you a bid to buy the bushes.


It's going to vary so much by location that no one is going to be able to advise you about selling the bushes unless they live right next to you and do regular business with landscaping companies.


My guess is that they are valuable, but I wouldn't have the first clue about how to sell them.
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Old 02-26-2021, 02:15 PM
 
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I uploaded two photos (resized to small). First is the two by the house. These we want to keep but prune better than my botched job. The second is far back behind the shed.
Attached Thumbnails
Camellia trees-77562d6f-6f42-43d1-b9c2-e6ce0136f90c.jpeg   Camellia trees-fc6abc34-0cd2-475a-97f6-f08e1c19756e.jpeg  
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Old 02-26-2021, 03:11 PM
 
Location: Floribama
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I have some that my great grandmother planted here back in the 1950s. I never do anything to them, I just let them do what they want, however they are mature so they really don't grow much anymore.

FWIW, camellias are woodland shrubs (native to Japan and Korea) that like the partial shade from larger trees, they do not like full hot sun. I would imagine they would be happier with the lower branches left intact, so that the soil around the roots is shaded and cool.
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Old 02-26-2021, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by victimofGM View Post
I uploaded two photos (resized to small). First is the two by the house. These we want to keep but prune better than my botched job. The second is far back behind the shed.
Okay, those give good perspective about size. You should get a professional arborist who knows camellia growing habits very well to come give the ones by the house a 'hard' pruning. Don't get in his way but stay and watch the arborist carefully as he does the job and ask polite, friendly, interested questions about why he's doing it this way, that way and the other way so that you can follow his lead in the future when you decide to 'lightly' prune them yourself at later dates.

What species of camellias are they? Not all camellias are equal and there are over 250 species of camellias. So your own species must be identified first before you can learn all the other things you want to know about them and what their growing habits and needs are.

If you don't know what they are now then when they come into bloom some close up pictures with details of leaves, flowers and bark will provide identification.

Based on your picture and the size of the fence or shed or whatever that structure is vs. shrubs, I think the three shrubs at the back will in all likelihood be impossible to take out of the ground alive and with roots intact and undamaged. That's because the shrubs are so close together they have become grown together.

Whoever originally planted them planted them way too close together and it's such a bizarre location they're in I'm wondering if those three shrubs were maybe not planted but maybe were feral volunteer shrubs that grew from seeds or else from underground suckers that came from the ones beside the house.

Anyway, basically they have gone feral and become like one big single shrub with one massively huge knot of roots tangled together and going in all directions 30 feet X 30 feet wide X 10-15 feet deep so that the roots can't be separated without killing the shrubs. That's my opinion just based on the picture. I don't think you can sell them or that many people will want to go to the effort of trying to get them out of the ground intact. Trying to dig that clump out will also leave a huge crater in the ground that will need to be back-filled with a lot of supplementary soil.

Why do you want to get rid of them? Are their roots and branches causing some structural damage to the shed (or fence or whatever that is)? If they aren't harming the structure why not just 'hard' prune them back down to half their present size and leave them where they are? They look quite happy there in their weird location.

.

Last edited by Zoisite; 02-26-2021 at 04:20 PM..
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Old 02-26-2021, 05:27 PM
 
17,479 posts, read 17,325,651 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoisite View Post
Okay, those give good perspective about size. You should get a professional arborist who knows camellia growing habits very well to come give the ones by the house a 'hard' pruning. Don't get in his way but stay and watch the arborist carefully as he does the job and ask polite, friendly, interested questions about why he's doing it this way, that way and the other way so that you can follow his lead in the future when you decide to 'lightly' prune them yourself at later dates.

What species of camellias are they? Not all camellias are equal and there are over 250 species of camellias. So your own species must be identified first before you can learn all the other things you want to know about them and what their growing habits and needs are.

If you don't know what they are now then when they come into bloom some close up pictures with details of leaves, flowers and bark will provide identification.

Based on your picture and the size of the fence or shed or whatever that structure is vs. shrubs, I think the three shrubs at the back will in all likelihood be impossible to take out of the ground alive and with roots intact and undamaged. That's because the shrubs are so close together they have become grown together.

Whoever originally planted them planted them way too close together and it's such a bizarre location they're in I'm wondering if those three shrubs were maybe not planted but maybe were feral volunteer shrubs that grew from seeds or else from underground suckers that came from the ones beside the house.

Anyway, basically they have gone feral and become like one big single shrub with one massively huge knot of roots tangled together and going in all directions 30 feet X 30 feet wide X 10-15 feet deep so that the roots can't be separated without killing the shrubs. That's my opinion just based on the picture. I don't think you can sell them or that many people will want to go to the effort of trying to get them out of the ground intact. Trying to dig that clump out will also leave a huge crater in the ground that will need to be back-filled with a lot of supplementary soil.

Why do you want to get rid of them? Are their roots and branches causing some structural damage to the shed (or fence or whatever that is)? If they aren't harming the structure why not just 'hard' prune them back down to half their present size and leave them where they are? They look quite happy there in their weird location.

.
Hadn’t considered the tight roots. May just leave them for bird nesting. The one close to the house has to be maintained. The house was built in 1973. My parents purchased the home in 2003 and were the second owners. My parents didn’t plant anything in the yard but did end up removing some plants that were dead or dying. It’s left deep holes in the yard in several places. Largest plant removed was a Pusey willow that was massive but dying. Several large trees at the back fence are also dying. On my side of the fence are rotted out tree stumps so soft I can kick off pieces with my foot.
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Old 02-26-2021, 07:02 PM
 
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When do these camellias bloom? If you prune them too early, you may cut off the buds.

In your place, I'd wait until mid to late spring to make any decisions about their fate.
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Old 02-27-2021, 09:42 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigCreek View Post
When do these camellias bloom? If you prune them too early, you may cut off the buds.

In your place, I'd wait until mid to late spring to make any decisions about their fate.
I’ll do more research and look for an arborist locally. I’ve sent a message to a landscaping company but haven’t heard back from them yet. We enjoy the nesting birds but wish we had more than just mockingbirds. Haven’t seen any hummingbirds, my wife’s favorite bird. Know I won’t see my favorite bird around here, owls. Saw them in flight where we use to live near horse fields.
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