Camellias are Blooming!

The first time I ever noticed a camellia in someone’s garden, I thought I’d stumbled across a rose with unusual leaves. Once I started reading about these beautiful flowers, I realized I wasn't the only one who didn't recognize them.

A German botanist named Engelbert Kaempfer is credited for penning one of the earliest descriptions of camellias. When he discovered them growing in Nagasaki in the 1690s, he referred to the plants as Japanese roses. About a half-century later, in 1745, English author and naturalist George Edwards published a book of birds he’d drawn in various natural settings. One of them, Edwards wrote, was perched on the branch of what he called a “Chinese rose,” a specimen we now recognize as a Camellia japonica.

Although it's only February, the camellias in my Douglasville garden are blooming, and I bet you've seen some in bloom, too. Depending on the variety, camellias may bloom from now until May in Georgia, and some will flower more than once.

Although some camellia blooms look as lush and heavily pedaled as roses, they are not related to them. They’re members of the Theaceae, or tea, family, and they're native to Japan and China. These evergreen plants have become very popular in the Southeastern U.S., where most of us value them as ornamentals for our garden, but the leaves of some species are still widely used in Asia for tea.

If you'd like to add camellias to your garden, you can transplant potted plants in the spring. A partly shaded spot, with moist, well-drained soil, is ideal. If your soil stays too wet, try growing them in raised beds, about 10 to 12 inches higher than ground level. Camellias love acidic soil, too, so try planting them under tall pine trees. Dogwoods and azaleas make great companion plants.

Give your camellias a good start by cultivating the soil 8 to 10 inches deep. Dig holes that are two to three times the width of the root ball, but no deeper than the root ball. Remove any sticks or rocks as you back-fill the hole, and press the dirt firmly around the plant’s roots. Water thoroughly to eliminate air pockets.

Some experts say that you don’t need to add organic matter to the back-fill, but you can add 2 or 3 bags of compost if you’re gardening in a low area. You can mix the compost with your soil to create a mound, to help keep the camellia’s shallow roots from standing in water. Finish by adding about 3 inches of mulch, such as pine straw or pine bark, to help prevent weeds.

Camellias aren’t heavy feeders, and while specialty fertilizers are available, an 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 formula is usually fine Apply a tablespoon of fertilizer per foot of plant height in spring, summer, and fall until the camellia is well-established. Then you can feed the same amount, but twice a year, in spring and summer. Water weekly the first year after transplanting.

As the years go by, remember that because camellias have shallow roots, they can succumb to drought quickly, so water as often as the soil around your plant feels dry.

After the flowers are finished, camellias can be pruned to remove dead wood and allow light and air into the plant’s interior. For all their beauty, these plants are susceptible to various diseases and pests, including mites, scale, die-back, and sooty mold. But don’t let that scare you away. Proper cultivation—that is, keeping the garden clean, and removing old leaf litter-- goes a long way towards success.

Need more info? Click here for an article from the University of Georgia College of Agriculture: http://www.ugaextension.com/thomas/anr/documents/Camellias_B813.pdf

To learn more about camellias, check out the American Camellia Society’s list of publications at: http://www.camellias-acs.com/

Lynn is the author of Gardening with Heirloom Seeds: Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, & Vegetables for a New Generation (UNC Press). Her gardening articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers.