Garden Mastery Tips
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February 2009 |
Camellias
Camellias are flowering shrubs or trees in the family Theaceae. There are some 100–250 species with some 3000 named varieties. Most camellias grown for their flowers are cultivar or hybrids of the Japanese Camellia, C. Japonica.
Camellias grow best in year-round, well shaded areas. They are evergreen shrubs and small trees 6 to 20 feet in height. They require well drained soil, and do best on the north side of a building, or under a canopy of trees. They grow slowly and appreciate an acidic soil. The flowers are large and showy, and the color ranges from white to pink and red, with yellow in a few species.
Bloom time is October to March, depending upon the variety of cultivar. Most ornamental camellias bloom in late winter, providing bright spots in otherwise dreary landscapes. There are six basic camellia flower forms:
Single. One row of up to eight petals surrounding a cluster of stamens.
Semidouble. Two or more rows of petals surrounding a cluster of stamens.
Anemone form. One or more rows of petals, flat or wavy, surrounding a central mound of intermixed petaloids and stamens.
Peony form. Mounded to almost ball-shaped flower consisting of petals in no particular arrangement. Loose peony form has loose petals that are intermingled with stamens. In full peony form, flowers are a tighter mass of petals, with no visible stamens.
Rose-form double. Many layers of regularly overlapping petals with a central cluster of stamens when fully open.
Formal double. Multiple layers of overlapping petals, with no stamens visible even when fully open.
It would be remiss to overlook the most famous member of the Camellia family – the tea plant, C. sinensis. The tea plant is of major commercial importance because tea is made from its leaves. Tea oil is a sweet seasoning and cooking oil that comes from the seeds of the Oil-seed Camellia (C. oleifera), the Japanese Camellia (C. japonica), and a few other species such as C. reticulate). It is used primarily in Asian countries.
Camellias do very well in containers – especially in wooden tubs and half-barrels. The size of the plant can be controlled through pruning. As wind and water can cause the blooms to turn brown, growing them in containers will enable you to move them to a protected place during adverse weather conditions.
For those interested in learning more about Camellia culture, there is an excellent web-site sponsored by the University of Georgia, found at http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubed/B813-w.htm.
Several varieties of C. japonica that are noteworthy are ‘Adolphe Audusson’, which flowers earlier and more profusely than many others. The blooms are blood red in color, and the plant grows fairly strongly and erectly. ‘Alba Simplex’ is another variety that has been well received. This one is more weather-resistant than other camellias, though it should be given some protection from early morning sun. After a frost, early morning sun can reduce the petals to limp, brown rags.
References
Wikipedia “Camellia”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia, retrieved 1/9/09.
Sunset Western Garden Book. Menlo Park, California: Sunset Publishing 2007.
England, Angela “Plant Profile Camellia”, http://perennial-plants.suite101.com/article.cfm/plant_profile_camellia, retrieved 1/8/09.
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