With the same botanical name as common name, the Camellia is a bit of Marmite flower. Their rose-like blooms may be a bit blousy for your tastes but love them or hate them, you would have trouble denying that the vivid splash of colour they give at this time of year is a welcome sight.

Camellias are evergreen ericaceous woodland plants and so prefer shelter and light shade with acid soil. But they also make great container plants so you can still grow them if your soil is too alkaline.

Replacing the top 5cm (2”) of compost annually is recommended as is using rainwater instead of tap water which has toomuch calcium in it for them.

Troubleshooting:

Although relatively easy to grow Camellias can sometimes suffer from a few problems which can be easily addressed:

Failure to flower at all: This could be because the plant has been pruned at the wrong time of year. Prune immediately after flowering as camellias form flower buds in late summer and autumn for the following spring.Another reason for non-flowering could be not enough water in late summer/early spring, which is a critical time.

Brown flowers/leaves: This is most probably frost damage, avoid placing camellias in a position that receives early morning sun.

Yellow leaves: This could be nutrient deficiency, add a top dressing of ericaceous compost in the spring and use rain water to water.

Camellia japonica is the most popular of the species to find in home gardens with large leaves and flowers. Also popular is Camellia sasanqua, which has smaller, darker leaves along with smaller blossoms which appear in the autumn, they are hardier and more drought-tolerant than japonicas and can tolerate full sun. Why not try one of each for multi season colour?

Top Dressing

While you are top dressing your camellia, give all your beds and borders a kick start by feeding them with a slow release fertilizer or top dressing before they put on too much growth.