Can I plant Camelias out Now???

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

Lovely friend has just given me about a dozen camelia plants .. they are a few feet high and budding (she picked them up at a plant market)

Can I plant them out in December? Or would I need to wait till after the frosts? (Am in London BTW)

Thanks oh experts

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

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[JoolsTide]

is it safe tho? didn't your last lot get nicked?

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

ahh .. but these were 70p each (decent size plants) and I've just spent a fortune putting up railings

memory like a heffalump that Jools though

[JoolsTide]

- unfortunately I don't know the first thing about gardening - except I can tell the difference between grass and flowers

[Gilli]

Do you have somewhere sheltered that they can overwinter - against a wall away from frost, perhaps? Ideally it is too late to put them in now as the ground is too cold to stimulate root growth and they may just rot away. If you can keep them going over the winter then in the spring prepare the site with lots of compost (choose a camellia-friendy (ie acid one) and pop them in around early March if ground is not frozen.