Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Winter-blooming camellia, 1 by HelloMissMary

HelloMissMary wrote:
Some 35 years ago, a friend gave my mother a blossom off of her huge camellia bush. My mother plopped it into a glass of water and then some time later, stuck it into the ground. Last March, we had a good dump of snow (for Memphis, anyway!) and it bent the then-10+-foot-tall shrub to the ground, all but breaking it. It continued to produce blooms and is still looking good, but I'm thinking a good pruning might be in order. Question -- best time to prune and best way to do it?

Also, I'd like to know what variety this is, if anyone recognizes it -- and I'd really like to know why no one has been able to root a cutting from this bush in all these years. My mother's cutting took with no real effort and no one can figure out what the magic ingredient was.

Any help appreciated!