I am surrounded!
By Camellias that is. My porch has tall Camellia bushes in front & both sides. And, I drink tea all day…
Did you know Camellia Sinensis is the tea plant?
Suffice to say my life is full of Camellias these days. So I wanted to learn more about them. I did and I am sharing what I learned with you.
Camellias – a landscape shrub
Like many landscape shrubs there are thousands of cultivated varieties & hybrids of the Camellia plant.
However, there are only two main species you will most likely encounter.
These two are:
-
Camellia Japonica – blooms in winter or early spring. Large leaves. Partial sun to dappled shade. Most common variety.
- Camellia Sasanqua – blooms in fall. Smaller leaves & flowers. Can tolerate full sun. Hardier, more drought tolerant & disease resistant than Japonica.
Camellia flowers start as a tight bud. Each unfurls to reveal white, pink, deep pink, red, yellow or variegated petals. I have white, pink & pink variegated in my current garden. The blossoms can be single, semi-double or double.
All types of Camellias have the following general characteristics:
- grow to 6 – 15 feet tall and 5 – 7 wide
- growth is slow, dense & upright
- evergreen glossy leaves
- rose like blooms with woody stems
Camellias are excellent anchor plants in the back of the garden or as privacy hedges along a property line. They give structure & balance to your garden design.
Camellias grow best under these conditions:
- semi-shade to dappled sun
- well drained acidic soil
- moderate water after established
Like most garden shrubbery Camellias can be trained to be more drought tolerant than they are naturally disposed to be.
Read here on how you can easily train a such a plant to be less dependent on water.
Camellia planting/pruning tips:
- Plant Camellias crown high to help with drainage. This means setting the plant in the hole with the top of the dirt ball/root line above the soil.
- Avoid planting near shallow rooted trees such as Birch or Maple as Camellias are shallow rooted too. Plant in the shade of pine trees for best results.
- Fertilize sparingly – after bloom make a circle at the drip line of a balanced fertilizer formulated for acid loving plants.
- Prune Japonica after blooms fade.
- Prune Sasanqua in very early spring before flower buds form.
- A light shaping and pinching tips will encourage fullness.
My favorite hand pruners are by Felco.
I have both common varieties of Camellias in my new garden. As you can see in some of the photos my Camellias have lots of buds. However, the leaves are also blotchy and the overall shrubs are leggy – not dense throughout.
I believe my Camellias to have been the victims of top off pruning. A bad practice in general, but certainly for these plants and a favorite of mine, boxwoods.
I am so excited to get out in this garden and make it my own. So many ideas & plans swirling through my head. I will be sharing all of it with you.
First things first the soil needs to be amended. Then I’ll decide what to do about the Camellias.
Do you have Camellias in your garden?
** Kelly **
I just planted 3 camellia shrubs in my yard this past summer….In my previous home in Florida, I had a “hedge” of them along one of the sides of my home….I so love them….I hesitated planting them here in NC as the deer love them….but I am taking my chances, and applying deer repellent and crossing my fingers that they will bloom again in the Spring!….They are one of my favorite flowers…Just too bad that my favorite flowers are also those of the deer! Have great weekend!
Wow Shirley good for you that Camellias thrived for you in Florida. Usually they like a snap of cold. Best of luck with the deer. We had major deer issues when we lived in Southampton. You’d buy a pack of annuals at the nursery – may as well have been labeled “Deer Treats”. They ate lots of the bushes too. I have my fingers crossed for you!!
Love them! Sorry Kelly, but I own the most glorious camellia in the world! It’s planted without a care up against the house…not in particularly good soil…and is as tall as the house and has the most beautiful plate sized pink blossoms! Honestly, I can’t get enough of it and completely revel in the pink beauty at blossom time. Morgan, my scrubby little cat, has a habit of picking up the fallen flowers and bringing them to the back door where she lines them up on the door sill. No idea what that’s all about…lol.
Oh my that your cat brings you flowers! Only in your magical life Veronica!!
I have 8 Camellias in my yard. The one by the front door sold me when we bought our house in So Cal, after trying to grow several in AZ. I love them so much and look forward to the buds popping every year! Thank you for the tips in caring for them.
8 lucky girl! I am in SoCal too Heather. Thank you for coming by today…
Hello to everyone. I just found this site last night and I am so happy that I did. I love everything I have seen and look forward to reading all the different subjects.
I live in Texas and may be one of the seniors of the group but I love fun,beautiful and interesting things. I look so forward to all the great post coming our way.
Thank you Kelly.
Treva – your comment made my night, my whole month! Thank you so much. Your kind words have made me feel terrific and even more excited about writing my blog. Welcome to My Soulful Home!!
I saw a camellia in full bloom for the first time last month and have to say it one of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen! Now I can’t wait for spring to arrive so I can plant some in my yard. Thanks for sharing all of these great tips to help me learn more about them and plan ahead. Your garden and porch sounds stunning being surrounded by so many camellia’s to enjoy!
Thank you Lauren – Camellias are so lovely. Mine however are struggling. Years of bad pruning by the prior owner 🙁 Making my garden plan in a few weeks by then I will know what to do about them. Glad my post was useful to you. Remember to dig a hole twice as big as your root ball, fill with water & let it drain 3 x before planting and use organic compost to fill in the hole..oh and, as I said plant it crown high.
My sister was moving a couple months ago and asked if I wanted her Camellia bush she knew I loved. My husband dug it out and I repotted in a large pot. I don’t know what I did wrong but the buds won’t bloom. They just die… ??? PLEASE HELP!!!
I live in NE Texas and have no afternoon shade. I love camillas but I don’t know what variety might survive our three solids months of summer het with lots of sun. What would you suggest? Can these be propogated from cuttings?
Barbara, thanks for coming by & for your question. That is a lot of hot sun for these plants, but mine get about the same treatment in front of my house. In the hot conditions you describe Sasanqua Camellias would fare best. Red flowers do better in heat than white or pink. When it gets hot increase watering ( Camellias don’t like it dry ) and mulch deeply. If possible avoid a southern exposure. Another thought is to see which Camellias are growing in your town. You can even contact the American Camellia Club to find out if there is a Camellia club near you. If so you can call them to find out what varieties they have found success with under similar conditions. Hope this helps!
I live in Seattle WA. If I have it correct I can prune my Korean boxwood in December with the temperature as low as freezing this year?
I live in South Carolina near Charleston and have camellias in my yard. They are beautiful and the Boxwood is my favorite. I also love azaleas and hydrangea’s. Those plants along with daffodils and Iris make any yard beautiful.