Camellias: color for fall and winter
By B.J. Jarvis
Pasco Extension Horticulture Agent
Every winter when most of my landscape is resting, my one camellia starts blooming. I start to think, “I sure wish I had planted more of these beauties.” This year I’ve decided to get organized and plant more to add some interest in my garden.
Camellias are kissing-cousins to the plant that produces tea, Camellia sinensis. While the tea Camellia does grow here, it’s not quite as showing as the japonicas and sasanquas. These two are the ones commonly sold in garden centers and the only reason you’ll care which is which relates to timing of bloom. Japonicas bloom in the fall from November through January, while sasanqua are later from December through February.
If you aren’t familiar with camellias you should be. A mainstay in southern gardens for more than a hundred years, camellia’s glossy green foliage make this 10 to 12-inch shrub an excellent foundation plant, a screen from unwanted views, or an attractive accent. More than just beautiful in flower, this Florida-friendly plant is drought tolerant, requires low maintenance and has very few insect or disease problems.
The few pests it does get are relatively easy to control and not fatal to the plant. Scale and aphids are the most likely culprits that are controlled with neem oil or other horticultural oils when temperatures are below 90 degrees. Minute bugs called thrips, that cause rose leaves to turn red then defoliate, have been reported, but not one case has been brought to the Pasco County Extension office. Distorted blooms is a symptom of thrips damage.
While flowers may appear fragile, these are real workhorses. Tolerant to cold weather and long-lived, camellia’s blossoms last for several weeks. Flowers are quite varied, producing single, double and combination flowers that are available in colors ranging from pink to white to salmon. Some are even striped or mottled for extra interest.
Flowers last several weeks and if you combine both an early season bloomer and a mid- or late-season variety, your garden will bloom straight through the winter months.
There are only a couple things camellias are finicky about. They do better with a bit of shade. These tough shrubs grow best in a slightly acidic soil. Like many plants that object to the brutal summer heat, camellias are showier if their roots are kept cool with a thick layer of mulch.
To be sure you can enjoy these garden gems this fall and winter, hurry to the garden centers to find camellias loaded with buds and get them settled into the ground. Their glossy evergreen leaves and vast array of bloom colors, combined with its lack of serious pest or disease problems, make them a “must have” plant (or two?) in your garden.
For more information about growing camellias, visit the University of Florida’s “Camellias in Florida” at edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/EP/EP00200.pdf or contact the Pasco Extension office at www.pasco.ifas.ufl.edu.
-B.J. Jarvis is Horticulture Agent and Extension Director for Pasco Cooperative Extension Service, a free service of Pasco County and the University of Florida. She can be reached at .
