August 18th 2026
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WellBeing Magazine
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I was a camellia virgin till my late 20s. My strict paternal grandmother bred camellias. “Never touch the petals or they’ll turn brown! This needs shade and this one likes sun,” she would always say. I assumed camellias were the hardest plants of all to grow. Instead, they are the easiest. Just find the right spot — and the right camellia.
Your local nursery will have camellias that thrive in your neighbourhood. To oversimplify: sasanqua camellias will tolerate the subtropics, but in shade and not against a hot wall. In cool climates you can grow them in full sun, but don’t be surprised if the leaves go yellow or even turn brown in a heat wave. It is still safest to grow them in dappled shade, even in Tasmania.
Sasanquas are the first to bloom, in early autumn or even late summer, then well into winter. The most common camellias are japonicas, blooming from mid-winter to late spring if you choose early, late and medium varieties. Japonicas tolerate frost. They need shade and survive even deep shade as long as they are watered and fed if they need to compete with giant overhanging trees.
The most wonderful camellia I ever saw was a japonica, over 100 years old, in a Melbourne courtyard, where the shade of the building covers it each afternoon. It’s a tree now, not a bush, with a thick twisted trunk and thousands of pink blooms on its branches and on the ground. My oldest japonica camellias are only 35 years old, but they too have become small trees, and grow bigger and more wonderful every year.
I have one reticulata camellia. Reticulatas are the show-offs of the camellia world, with giant blooms, often so heavily ruffled they may break the branch. They are best grown in the subtropics, but ours is in a sheltered, sunny spot and survives and thrives despite our major frosts. In subtropics or temperate climates, give them semi-shade. In cold climates, give them sun, but not mid-summer sun.
Decide if you want a great camellia display, all blooming at once in the same colour, or a patchwork of camellias as bushes bloom, then fade as another flowers. Ours flower from April or even late March till November.
Multicoloured camellias
Most camellias are the shade of pink, but some are flagrantly red, with a few ruffled multicolours and one pure white — or it would be if the small bird didn’t perch on it, leaving little brown footprints on delicate petals. That white camellia seems to be the one with the most nectar. The birds adore it and I adore the birds.
Just as Grandma Jannie said: perfect camellias need good drainage, acid soil (most garden soils are acid) and the correct fertiliser. Their soil must be kept moist. But “not perfect” camellias? Our camellias have survived five major droughts when they weren’t watered at all. Their leaves may look limp, but new ones grow.
After the 220km-per-hour bushfire winds from November 2019 to late January 2020, about half of ours were dead sticks. And then it rained, and rained some more. Every single camellia has grown back. If you bushwalk past spots where there were once old farmhouses, you will still probably find an apple tree, a pear — and several camellias.
We have two on our property that were about three metres high when I first came here 50 years ago. They haven’t grown much, but bloom every single year. I have done absolutely nothing except pick their blooms, which, unlike heavy varieties, last up to a fortnight in a vase.
Camellias are tough — once established after about five years. You can prune camellias right back and they will survive and thrive and turn into neat hedges or explosions of blooms. Prune right after flowering though — if you prune too long afterwards you may be cutting off next season’s flower buds. You can even transplant quite large ones, though they will probably sulk for two or three years and then rocket off again.
It is also easy to kill a camellia. One over-eager person with a whipper snipper can ring-bark the base, and you’ll only notice the damage when the camellia droops and dies. Too much fertiliser on dry soil will kill camellia roots, especially the shallower roots of younger plants.
Camellias are also prone to root rot, especially in pots where they may not get enough water, or too much water, or just as bad, alternating too much water and dry soil. The roots can get too hot, and too cold, and are often either fed too much at once or not enough. A potted camellia on the patio or by the front door is wonderful — but make sure it’s a big pot.
If your camellia’s older leaves are yellowing, it needs more tucker. I fed ours when they were young — when I got around to it, which was about once every two years. I don’t feed them at all now, officially. I do throw our old tea leaves and coffee grounds around them, and any dead flowers from the vases are hidden under what is now a thick camellia hedge. They reward my neglect with bloom after bloom. Like the two old ones I inherited, I hope mine keep blooming for many generations, glorious in every season except summer.
The post The Gift of Camellias appeared first on WellBeing Magazine.
Read the full article here:
https://www.wellbeing.com.au/at-home/garden/the-gift-of-camellias.html
