Camellias flower primarily though winter into early spring.  While most varieties and hybrids do best in speckled shade, there are a small number of Camellias that accept full sun.  Camellias are best suited to temperate districts with somewhat acid, well-drained soil.

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Camellia sasanqua varieties have smaller and uncommonly darker leaves than C. japonica.  Most have dispersing growth but can be trimmed as domes, hedges, trained on walls as espaliers or be planted as a narrow cordon-like fence with interlaced branches.  Camellias exhibit an abundance of white, pink, or red single or informal double flowers from mid-autumn to early winter.  Camellias do their best in full sun or shade but are normally slower to progress and rarely flower substantially in dense, thick shade.  These Camellias, (Camellia sasanqua) are more tolerant to alkaline soil than Camellia japonica varieties.  Other Camellias species of significance to the garden devotee include the yellow camellias Camellia nitidissima and many newer hybrids with blooms and attractive foliage.

Pruning your Camellias

Trimming camellias doesn’t have to be a yearly chore.  Most Camellia japonica plants have naturally compacted growth but picking spent blooms with one or two leaves left at the base of the flower stems assists to renew outer growth and usually improves the quality of next year’s blooms.  It also keeps plants more attractive by getting rid of old blooms, although there are many ‘self-grooming’ varieties of camellias that shed them naturally.

What could be nicer than butterflies fluttering around your Camellias?  With this colorful Butterfly Feeder, butterflies on the go can get the same sweet treatment as their hummingbird friends! Mix together some nectar (easy recipe included), pour it into the Feeders reservoir, hang your feeder from a limb or set it on a flat surface, and wait for wild butterflies to arrive to drink from the colourful flowery wicks. Entomologist approved, this beautiful feeder will provide hours of enjoyment for the whole family. Complete instructions included. Ages 4 & up.

Invigorating your Camellias

When Camellia japonica varieties have not been pruned after blossoming for seven or eight years, they customarily make an surplus of thin woody growth and flower quality declines.  Rejuvenate these camellias during winter by removing all side growths thinner than a pencil on each branch.  Then all residual branches should be removed.  Early spring should bring fervent new growth, usually too dense to make vigorous branchlets.  Rub off excess growth soon after it appears to achieve an un-crowded even spacing of the remaining branchlets.

In the re-established garden where you may not care to forfeit the unopened flower buds or be ready to tolerate that ‘plucked’ look of your camellias for quite a few weeks, one concession that can be made is to treat half the main branches in this manner and the rest the next year.  If your Camellias are too tall, there is no harm done by pruning back the top branches just above a side branch at the height you prefer or a little lower.

Surprisingly, Camellias over 100 years old that have been pruned during the winter to the extent of leaving a stump 25cm (1 inch) high have been known to recover (Of course this was under favourable growing conditions in a temperate climate).  So, if you feel like treating your Camellias to more drastic and harsher pruning than has been pointed out, you will probably get away with it.