Question
I live in Chicago and have an indoors camellia that is losing all its leaves and buds are coming out but drying before they bloom. It is pretty warm in my apartment and I water it once a week. Any advice?

Answer
Monica,

You did not tell me exactly how you are caring for your plant so I will guess. It needs to get full sun all day long. It needs to sit in a south facing window with window covering open all day.

It needs a 10 degree temperature drop at night.

It needs to be planted in a sandy soil and has to be in a pot with a drainage hole and drain tray underneath. An hour after watering you need to empty the drain tray, it hates sitting in a swamp. You should only water it when the soil feels dry but still soft and the pot feels light weight. If you wait till the soil is dry and hard it is too late but it also does not like to be soggy all the time. It also likes high humidity.

Anything you are doing differently from the above advice can cause drying and bud drop. These are fairly touchy plants to grow and I even have problems with these and gardenias. Good luck.

Darlene