Shrub · Theaceae
Camellia
Camellia japonica
Give it acidic soil, dappled shade, and steady water, and the camellia answers with blooms when little else flowers.
Partial shade
Every 5–10 days
USDA 7–9
6–13 ft · 1.8–4 m
Overview
Camellias bring color to the garden at the quiet end of the year, when most shrubs have shut down. The common or Japanese camellia opens its flowers from late winter into spring, while its sasanqua cousin flowers in fall and early winter, so together they cover the cold months. Behind the blooms sit thick, glossy evergreen leaves that hold the structure year round.
This is a slow, long-lived woody shrub that earns a permanent spot in the garden. It can reach roughly 6 to 13 feet (1.8 to 4 m) tall over many years, growing in no hurry, which makes it a plant you place once and keep. Hardy in zones 7 to 9, it leans on acidic, well-drained soil and a sheltered spot out of harsh sun and drying winter wind.
Camellias ask for the right setting more than constant fuss. Get the soil acidic, the light dappled, and the moisture steady, and the plant largely looks after itself. Push it into alkaline ground or bake it in afternoon sun and you'll see yellowing leaves and dropped buds instead of flowers.
Care
The short version: partial shade out of hot afternoon sun, acidic and well-drained soil rich in organic matter, and steady moisture through summer, with a light acid-forming feed in spring and pruning done right after the flowers fade.
Light
Camellias do best in partial shade, with cover from hot afternoon sun. They'll take partial sun and even full shade, but a spot with morning light and afternoon shelter gives the best flowers and keeps the foliage from scorching.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist but well drained, watering roughly every 5 to 10 days and more in summer heat. Dry spells during bud set lead straight to dropped buds. Skip overhead watering, since wet flowers invite petal blight.
Soil
Plant in acidic, well-drained ground rich in organic matter, ideally a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Alkaline soil locks out iron and turns the leaves yellow with green veins, so a camellia in the wrong soil never quite thrives.
Temperature
The shrub handles a wide range, from about 5°F to 95°F (-15°C to 35°C), which covers zones 7 to 9. Sharp swings or a hard freeze during bud development still cost you flowers, so a sheltered site pays off.
Humidity
Average outdoor humidity suits camellias, so there's no figure to hit. Air movement matters more than moisture in the air, since still, damp conditions are what let petal blight and leaf gall take hold.
Feeding
Feed lightly in spring with an acid-forming azalea or camellia fertilizer. Resist the urge to overdo it, because too much scorches the leaf edges and pushes the foliage to drop.
Pruning
Prune right after flowering, and save any hard cutting for the window from mid-February through May 1. Pull out dead or weak stems whenever you spot them, and clear away infected and fallen blooms to keep petal blight in check.
Repotting
A camellia grows slowly and lives long, so a potted one only needs repotting every 2 to 3 years or once it's clearly rootbound. Use an acidic, well-drained mix, and watch for roots circling the pot or water running straight through as your cue.
Size & spacing
Expect a mature shrub to reach 6 to 13 feet (1.8 to 4 m) tall and spread 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) wide over time. Give it that room from the start so air moves freely through the branches and disease stays down.
When to plant
Camellias are slow-growing evergreens you set in place once and leave for decades. Plant in spring or fall into a sheltered, partly shaded spot, and expect japonicas to flower from late winter into spring and sasanquas from fall into early winter.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall in a sheltered, partially shaded site protected from hot afternoon sun and cold drying winter wind.
- Harvest: Camellia japonica blooms late winter to spring (about February-April); Camellia sasanqua blooms fall to early winter.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 7–9
Temperature: down to -18°C
Troubleshooting
Most camellia trouble lands on the flowers and leaves, and the fungal kinds spread through fallen debris. Match what you see below, then clean up under the plant before the problem builds. Quick sanitation does as much as any spray.
Blooms browning from the center with dark-veined petals
This is petal blight, a fungus that browns the flower from the middle out and leaves a netted pattern in the veins. Cold damage looks similar but starts at the petal edges, so check where the browning begins. Pick off and destroy every infected and fallen bloom, since the spores live in the soil for years and travel a long way.
Fix:
- Hand-remove and destroy infected blooms and fallen blossoms promptly
- Rake up and remove fallen petals and debris under the plant
- Replace surface mulch with fresh pathogen-free organic mulch
- Apply a labeled fungicide during bloom as supplementary control
Yellow blotches on top, crusty scales underneath
Turn a marked leaf over and you'll find tea scale, a sap-feeding insect that crusts the underside in brown and white specks while the top goes yellow. Left alone it cuts the blooms and drops leaves over several generations. Coat the undersides with horticultural oil, and reach for a systemic insecticide when an infestation is heavy.
Fix:
- Apply horticultural oil to thoroughly coat leaf undersides, repeating as needed
- Use insecticidal soap during crawler emergence
- Apply a systemic soil insecticide such as dinotefuran in early spring or fall for heavy infestations
- Prune out and destroy heavily infested branches
Buds dropping or browning before they open
When buds form but fall before opening, the usual cause is uneven moisture, most often a plant that went dry through summer while the buds were setting. Temperature swings, freezes, poor drainage, and a nutrient shortfall can do it too. Water steadily through the heat, plant where afternoon shade softens the day, and pick cultivars that bloom in step with your local frost.
Fix:
- Provide consistent soil moisture, especially during summer bud development
- Improve drainage and relocate plants from extreme exposures
- Correct nutrient imbalances based on a soil test
- Choose cultivars suited to the local frost timing
A black, sooty film coating leaves and stems
The black layer is sooty mold, and it grows on the sticky honeydew that scale and aphids leave behind. It wipes off, and it doesn't feed on the plant itself. Deal with the insects making the honeydew and the mold has nothing left to live on.
Fix:
- Control the underlying scale or aphid population producing honeydew
- Wash foliage to remove mold once the insect source is controlled
Swollen, fleshy spring shoots that pale and brown
Spring growth that comes in thick, fleshy, and oddly pale is leaf gall, a fungus that favors the sasanqua types. Flip the swollen leaves and you'll see a whitish dusting of spores before the galls harden and turn brown. Snap them off and destroy them before that spore layer forms.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy young galls before they produce spores
- Apply a labeled fungicide from budbreak through June at 7-14 day intervals for partial protection
Toxicity
Good news for pet owners: the ornamental camellia is safe. The ASPCA lists the common camellia as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and it carries nothing that would poison other animals or people. As with any garden plant, it's best not eaten in quantity, but a stray nibble is no cause for alarm.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
The ASPCA lists the common camellia as non-toxic to cats, so a curious nibble won't poison one. A cat that eats a lot of any leaf might still get a passing stomach upset.
Dogs None
Dogs can be around the shrub and even mouth the foliage without risk of poisoning. The worst a big helping is likely to cause is some mild, short-lived tummy trouble.
Horses None
The plant is non-toxic to horses, so a grazed leaf is no cause for worry. There's no special handling to think about around a paddock.
Rabbits None
No toxic compounds make a camellia a hazard to rabbits. Rich foliage in large amounts can loosen any small animal's gut, so treat it as a nibble rather than a meal.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep face no known poisoning risk from camellia. As with any ornamental, it isn't meant for grazing, so it doesn't belong in their feed.
Birds None
Backyard and pet birds can share space with a flowering camellia safely. The plant carries nothing that would harm them through a peck at a leaf or petal.
People None
The shrub is grown for its flowers, not the table, but it poses no poisoning danger to people. There's no need to keep children at a distance beyond the usual rule against chewing on garden plants.
No special toxicity handling is needed; as with any plant, discourage pets and children from chewing ornamental foliage to avoid mild stomach upset.
Varieties
Camellias split first into two species with different bloom seasons, then into named cultivars chosen for flower form and color. These are the ones worth knowing.
Camellia japonica
The common or Japanese camellia is a slow grower with large glossy leaves and showy late-winter to spring blooms that wants shelter from hot afternoon sun.
Camellia sasanqua
A faster grower with smaller leaves and flowers that blooms from fall into early winter and takes more sun than the japonica.
Kramer's Supreme
A japonica cultivar carrying large, fragrant, red peony-form blooms.
White by the Gate
A japonica cultivar prized for its formal double white flowers.
How to propagate
Camellias can be multiplied several ways, though all of them run slow. The method you pick depends on whether you want an exact copy of a cultivar or you're working on rootstock or breeding.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Take semi-hardwood cuttings of current-season growth in summer. · Several weeks to a few months to root; slow to establish overall.
Take semi-hardwood cuttings from this season's growth in summer and set them in a well-drained acidic medium, with rooting hormone to lift your odds. They take anywhere from several weeks to a few months to root, and the plant is slow to settle in even after that.
LayeringEasy
Spring through summer. · Several months to over a year for a layered branch to root.
The easiest route is to wound a low branch, pin it down into acidic soil, and let it root while still attached to the parent. Done anytime from spring through summer, it can take several months to over a year for that branch to root.
Air layeringModerate
Spring to summer on healthy stems. · Several months for roots to form before severing.
Air-layering suits larger stems you can't bend to the ground, rooting them in place while they stay joined to the parent. Work on healthy stems in spring or summer and give it several months to form roots before you sever the new plant.
GraftingDemanding
Late winter to early spring. · Several months to establish a successful graft union.
Grafting is the demanding option, used to set a choice cultivar onto vigorous rootstock. Do it in late winter to early spring and allow several months for the graft union to take.
SeedModerate
Sow fresh seed in fall after harvest. · Slow; seedlings do not come true to the parent cultivar.
Sow fresh seed in fall once it's ripe, but know that seedlings won't match the parent cultivar. The route is slow and mostly serves breeding or rootstock work rather than copying a named variety.
Myths
The ornamental garden camellia is the same plant used to make tea.
Tea comes from a separate species, Camellia sinensis. The shrubs grown in gardens are Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua, raised for their flowers rather than for leaves to brew.
Camellias are poisonous to cats and dogs.
The ASPCA lists the common camellia (Camellia japonica) as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. A pet that chews a leaf isn't at risk of poisoning, though a big mouthful of any foliage can bring on a brief stomach upset.