What's Wrong with my Camellia leaves???

For the second Spring already, I am having problems with the leaved on my Bob Hope Camellia turning yukky and, by now, dropping off at the touch or shake.

Seems they start 'turning" in mid-winter--and I always thought it was just cold damage.
This Spring--it is as if ALL the leaves that are affected are last seasons older leaves.
In other words--the new growths from last season are all still green and OK, but all the others are dropping off to bare stems.....
The bush is OK otherwise---buds are opening and it is "marching on"...

I would appreciate anyone's knowledgeable guess as to what is going on here?????
I sure don't want to lose this beauty!!!!

What should I do? I will rake up all the leaves as they fall--in case it is a fungus of some kind...get rid of the old mulch too...How about spraying?
OR--is it just Winter damage??????

Here's a couple of pictures.

This is looking into the shrub.

Here's a closer look at some of the leaves....

Another---

Here's a pile of the fallen off leaves--sure seem to have all kinds of "patterns" on them....
Could it be a deficiency of some sort?

I would hate to lose this shrub! it is one of a kind.....SO beautiful!
I have shared pictures of it on DG for a long time....It is about to be in full bloom again in a week or so.

Thanks for any help you can give me--and a solution, maybe???

Gita

I don't know that much about camellias so maybe someone else will have a better idea, but as long as your new leaves aren't showing symptoms it may not be something you need to worry about. Evergreen plants will shed leaves from time to time--they don't do it all at once and spend months leafless like deciduous plants do but they will lose older leaves. Also if you did have cold damage, it could be the leaves that suffered from the cold were damaged enough that they're not going to make it so the plant is shedding them. But do keep a really close eye on your new leaves--if they start to show any symptoms then there probably is a problem going on.

The leaves that are (burned), or scaulded, are from bad weather conditions.It could be a fungus in the mulch, if so rake it out, and apply dacaneal(SP), a funguscide.You would do well with a magneasium fert. also, to help the new flowers.If you should opt to thin the blooms then that would help too.
I will take a pic of the progress of the growing cuttings, and d-mail you.Its really been a year for me.Pasemaker, quad by-pass, and it all happened this year.

Mike

Thanks, Mike!
Sorry to hear about all your medical issues.....Hopefully, it will all be for the best from now on.
What kind of fertilizer has Magnesium? Would Epsom Salts do? I put that on my roses with the first fertilizing...It is supposed to encourage new canes to grow....

Yes! I will clean up the ground under the shrub. It is a mess down there.....

Best to you! Gita