Planting beauties in difficult soil.

Hi!
I have just planted beautifull camellias in my garden however when i dig the deep hole to give them acid soil i have noticed that my soil it's strange type.If it helps,my garden and house is in brand new estate built last year.So the soil on the top it's quite loose,gets dry quite quick,black.Then,maybe 40cm down sand,then blackish,yellow clay.The dreinage is not too bad as i put some water in the hole and it soaked in few min.time(not strait after i put it)
My problem is if it's worth to plant such a beauties in such a c...soil.Will the roots manage to survive once they get deep to this hard clay level. Same problem with rhododendron.Plus i have stones in my soil,managed to dig out some in the area i planted the Camellias but sure they are still deep down there.
What do You think?:cnfs:

 

Celine I do not wish to put you off but......................... sort out your soil before you even start. I lived in the valley for the first decade of my married life in the green and cabbage days of my gardening. It was sheltered the soil was beautiful and everything planted grew. Fuelled by this we moved out to the country to give me a bigger garden and hubby the peace and quiet he wanted. I have half an acre of garden. What I didn't realise was we moved half way up a mountain and boy what a difference that makes. The house was built on the site of an old cottage. A septic tank is in residence. The clay that was dug out for that, the rubble from the cottages and the concrete yards were happily covered with top soil. Of course i didn't think of that. Isn't hind sight wonderful? I now live in a frost trap. The house is seared by a north easterly wind in winter. I happily spent a fortune on acers camellias etc and they all died with wind burn and unhappy roots. I now have the whole garden hedged off one way and another and it is really sheltered. The soil has been treated annually with layers of compost. I can't grow a Hydrangea at all. We are always 2-3 degrees coder than the valley in winter. I am ranting away to warn you. Get the basics sorted first. Get a digger in get rid of a lot of your clay and builders rubble and find decent top soil. I didn't and I rue the day. I have barrowed tons of topsoil since I moved here 22 yes ago. It is also layered with tons of compost but basically there are huge limitations to what I can gow easily. Good luck

 

Celine, your soil doesn't sound too bad to me. And for any plant you can dig a hole, give it what the plant wants and plant it.

We're talking about a camelia here - plant it in the best conditions you can give it and stop worrying.. 9/10 it will be fine. Good luck.