Camellias are such a versatile plant, offering a consistent green in a garden, they keep their form without regular trimming, are not susceptible to many pest and diseases, provides tidy structure and form, have lovely flowers and are generally pretty hardy.
Many varieties flower during the winter months when there is little other colour in the garden, which is another bonus for this winner of a plant.
The flowers may be single, double or semi-double and pink, red, sometimes white or mixtures of all three. There are a few creamy-yellow varieties too.
Flowering hedge favourites
Setsugekka (pure white with yellow stamens), Early Pearly (pure white). Paradise Blush (white with a dainty pink tip on the petals), Transnokoensis (dainty foliage and flowers pink in bud open white), Cinnamon Cindy (Profusion of pink buds that open to miniature pale pink to white flowers with a semi-double to rose form).
Perfect for pots
A popular variety, Quintessence, which is small growing and spreading in its growth, makes a good ground cover in semi-shady positions, or as an attractive patio specimen in a pot.
Another good container variety is Sweet Emily Kate, it has anemone double type, light pink blooms.
Both these two camellia varieties are scented.
Varieties on trend
Volunteer; (Large, ruffled, anemone-form blooms of soft pink edged in white, the colours will deepen to a rich pink until late blooms of a primarily red shade), Brushfields Yellow (is more unusual with its white flowers having a pale yellow centre).
Camellia waterlily is a simply spectacular hybrid with medium-sized formal double blooms of bright pink resembling a waterlily.
Rare and spectacular
Dr Clifford Parkes cannot go without a mention. In regular cultivation there are not many of what is known as reticulata type varieties: these are the largest flowering of all camellias.
The plants are often not as tight in their growth habit which have large serrated green foliage. Dr Clifford Parkes is something more unusual to grow in your garden with its large bold semi double scarlet red flowers it will put on a good show.
Where and how to grow
Camellias generally grow very well in a position offering some protection from coastal winds and with some shade, offering protection from the hottest of the summer sun.
Camellias grow best in fertile soil conditions, preferring soil that is well-drained but moisture-retentive, and slightly acidic.
The best soils range from good loam to sand well enriched with peat (good quality organic compost can be used too but beware many bagged composts have an alkaline pH so are not suitable).
Sand and free-draining loam soils
The planting hole should be a little more than double the depth of the root ball and approximately three times as wide.
To the soil that you remove from the planting hole, thoroughly mix in a roughly equal amount of organic compost or peat with a slow-release fertiliser such as Ican Slow Food.
If you have heavy soils there are three options for planting;
A) Use organic matter or compost to improve the soil quality and plant the camellia high with the top of its root ball above the soil surface and mulch around it to cover any exposed roots.
The elevated planting will allow better drainage of water from the root zone.
B) If you want to plant several camellias in these soil conditions, a good procedure is to create raised beds, filling the beds with a mixture of soil, good quality compost and free-draining material such as garden mix containing pumice granules that will be more to the roots liking.
C) Plant in containers. Camellias are one of the best plants for long-term residence in containers.
Whether you want just one or two as accent plantings or a larger portable collection.
Use a good quality potting mix such as ‘Ican Premium Potting Mix’ or ‘Tui Pot Power’.
Put enough into the container so that the top of the root ball is about 30mm below the rim of the container.
Fill in around the roots with more potting mix, firming by hand and water thoroughly until the water flows freely from the drainage holes.
Clay soils, though they are moisture retentive, offer the least friendly conditions for camellia roots because the particles are so small and tightly packed that drainage is extremely slow and roots can remain saturated and suffocate from a lack of soil air, causing death of the plant.
This especially occurs on level clay sites. Clay soils on a slope or hillside can be more accommodating because drainage is downslope and the roots are less likely to be in prolonged saturation.
You can improve the drainage of clay and aeration of clay soils by adding copious amounts of organic matter and gypsum, a neutral pH form of lime that flocculates fine clay soil particles into a more crumbly structure.
The problem often remains that the clay soil around the improved soil will prevent the water from draining away quickly enough and can create a bathtub effect.
Autumn is a great time to be planting camellias, call into a garden centre and browse the selections available.
If you haven’t got any in your garden find one to include, be it a backdrop in your garden, a filler shrub or a patio container specimen – there will be one to suit.
Gareth Carter is general manager of Springvale Garden Centre
