Pruning Camelias

*Dory*

Hi
I have a rather sad looking camelia that was in a pot and suffered quite badly with a weather we had over the winter. The buds fell off and a lot of the leaves turned brown and fell off.
I have now planted it in my new garden in a nice sheltered place that gets afternoon/evening sun, given it a really good feed but I am wondering if I would do more harm than good if I pruned it. It has got some new leaf buds on it but is looking rather bare generally

Kay_Peel

This is the very best time of year (April and May) to cut out winter damage on camelias (and any other evergreen shrubs for that matter). Leave it any later and the new shoots won't ripen enough to survive this winter.

Having said that, I cut out any dead or weak shoots all through the year and it always bounces back.

If you do get any flowers this year then be sure to dead head them as soon as they die. You don't want the camellia to set seed - you want it to get on with producing new shoots. Just snap the dead flower off between your finger and thumb.

Give it a good watering in the autumn and cover it with a mulch of old compost from pots of flowers that have finished.

I just love camellias.:j