Impulse bought a Camellia. How to care for it?

The barrel will give it a chance to spread its roots a bit.

What to put in the square planter depends on where you want to place it, I guess. Do you want leaves all yr ... or flowers? A hardy fuchsia might work. They do pretty well in pots as they like confined roots.

 

It certainly looks in decent condition. I can only see one yellow leaf, and the rest looks very healthy.
They certainly don't need acidic soil - that's a bit of a myth, and neutral soil is fine. The barrel would be better than the pot it's in, but it's a lot more work having anything in a pot. Ground is far better for you and the plant in terms of maintenance. They just grow like weeds here, as it suits them, so you rarely see any in containers, but if you get the right thing, it'll be fine. They tend to be wider rather than deep with root systems.
The best solution would be to build a proper raised bed of some kind for it, so that you can give it plenty of room, and make it easier to care for if you can't get a good site for it in the ground.
Whatever you choose, a good soil mix and good drainage - make sure it's up off the ground if it's on hard standing.

Looks like a willowherb in the pot so, yes - remove that.

 

I think what we in the UK tend to forget when we buy camellias is they are forest trees, growing 20-30 ft when mature. What we buy are little more than rooted cuttings so as large a pot as possible is essential to keep them reasonably happy, and to give them enough water to keep them alive. Down here in Cornwall it is possible to see fully grown trees in some of the big gardens, and camellias do grow big! Spectacular when in flower. I live near Caerhays where the garden goes down to the seashore, is exposed to the full force of the S. Westerly storms and camellias, azaleas and rhodedendrons thrive. Some of their trees are massive so having them grow in pots is really unnatural for them. As long as they are potted on regularly, fed and watered they will survive for quite a few years but only reach their full potential when grown in open ground.

 

The compost that's already in the barrel - a multi purpose compost - would suffice then? (Once I remove my attempts at growing carrots and lettuce from it).

It doesn't need acid soil? Or acid soil at least mixed in?

I also have lots of Verve top soil in the garage I could add. Or just stick to compost?

 

Do mix in top soil. It won't manage with just multi-purpose compost.

I personally would use fresh compost, as reusing could throw up issues, eg nutrient depletion.

Has the plastic barrel got a good drainage hole in the base? If not, you will need to drill some.

 

Thank you. And yes, I already drilled 5 holes in the bottom. May not have needed that many but I felt it was a big pot. Probably only needed one.

 

Holes are good! Five sounds about right for a pot that size.

 

I think I would get a bag of ericaceous compost and mix it with the topsoil. Camellias might not need acid soil, but they are happy with a bit of acidity. You could keep the old compost from the barrel to use for other things, either things that need less nutrient content or add some fertiliser. I've successfully used sieved spent compost for my autumn seed sowing this year (perennials in pots sown a few weeks ago, pretty much all started to germinate). You could plant something smaller in the pot that the camellia came in.

 

Well it's now repotted, and the new pot is a lot bigger. I mixed ericaceous soil with top soil. One thing I didn't do was loosen up the roots because it felt like I'd break them. But hopefully over time the roots will spread anyway.

 

Looking grand! I never loosen roots and find plants always manage to send new growth out from the previous ball.

 

Loosening roots, is it really proven to work, I don't think so but it makes gardening sound mysterious by the TV presenters.

 

Yes - soil mixed with a bit of compost is the ideal. A top dressing of somehting like bark is also good for shrubs like camellias, and that breaks down and adds to the mix too. I'm assuming from your name that you're in Cardiff [possibly wrong!] and as far as I'm aware, your garden soil would probably have been fine to use for it, but as you had some available, that's fine. It's always useful to take a look at what grows in other gardens in your area, and that gives you an idea of suitable planting for your own too.

I would have given the roots a tease out as it's likely that it's been sitting in that pot getting root bound for a good while, but if it looked well enough when you replanted, it should be fine.
Always better to have more holes rather than too few, so that was a good idew to make more.

Remember that you can also prune camellias, so if you decide to plant it out at a later date, and it gets a bit large for the site, you can cut it back a bit.

 

I suppose I can still take it out and try to loosen the roots if necessary. This is what it looked like when taken out of it's old pot:

 

It'll be fine. No need to discombobulate it as it is just breathing a sigh of relief over its newly improved living conditions.

 

It looks very dry. It's always a good idea to soak anything really well that's been a bit neglected, before re potting, but hopefully it'll be fine.
I have to disagree slightly - I'd have teased a few of those roots out as they're the finer ones which really matter, but as long as the new mix is good, and it gets well soaked, it should be fine.