Shrub · Theaceae
Camellia
Camellia japonica
Give it acidic soil, dappled shade, and steady water, and your camellia rewards you with blooms when almost nothing else is flowering.
Partial shade
Every 5–10 days
USDA 7–9
6–13 ft · 1.8–4 m
Overview
A camellia brings color to the garden at the quiet end of the year, when most shrubs have gone to sleep. The common or Japanese camellia opens its flowers from late winter into spring, while its sasanqua cousin flowers in fall and early winter, so between them they carry you through the cold months. Behind those blooms sit thick, glossy evergreen leaves that keep the plant looking good all year, even before you've learned its rhythms.
Think of this as a slow, long-lived woody shrub that grows into a permanent friend in the garden. Over many unhurried years it can reach roughly 6 to 13 feet (1.8 to 4 m) tall, so it is a plant you settle once and enjoy for the long run. Hardy in zones 7 to 9, it simply asks for acidic, well-drained soil and a sheltered spot away from harsh sun and drying winter wind.
The reassuring part is that a camellia wants the right setting far more than constant fussing. Get the soil acidic, the light dappled, and the moisture steady, and the plant mostly looks after itself while you watch it grow. The two slip-ups to avoid are alkaline ground and a bake in afternoon sun, which show up as yellowing leaves and dropped buds, and even those are recoverable once you adjust the spot.
Care
The short version: give it partial shade out of hot afternoon sun, acidic well-drained soil rich in organic matter, and steady moisture through summer, then a light acid-forming feed in spring and a tidy-up pruning as soon as the flowers fade.
Light
Your camellia is happiest in partial shade, sheltered from hot afternoon sun. It will get by in partial sun and even full shade, but a spot with gentle morning light and afternoon cover gives you the best flowers and keeps the leaves from scorching.
Water
Aim to keep the soil evenly moist but well drained, watering roughly every 5 to 10 days and a touch more in summer heat. Letting it dry out while buds are setting leads straight to dropped buds, so steady is the goal. Skip overhead watering too, since wet flowers invite petal blight.
Soil
Plant it in acidic, well-drained ground rich in organic matter, ideally a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Alkaline soil locks away iron and yellows the leaves with green veins, so a camellia in the wrong soil never quite finds its feet, but the right soil sets it up beautifully.
Temperature
This shrub copes with a wide span, from about 5°F to 95°F (-15°C to 35°C), which covers zones 7 to 9. Sharp swings or a hard freeze while buds are forming can still cost you flowers, so a sheltered site is a kindness that pays you back.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity suits a camellia just fine, so there's no number you need to chase. What matters more is good air movement, because still, damp air is what gives petal blight and leaf gall their opening.
Feeding
Feed it lightly in spring with an acid-forming azalea or camellia fertilizer, and a gentle hand is all it asks. Resist piling it on, since too much scorches the leaf edges and pushes the plant to drop its foliage.
Pruning
Prune right after flowering, and save any harder cutting for the window from mid-February through May 1. Pull out dead or weak stems whenever you notice them, and clear away spotted and fallen blooms to keep petal blight at bay, which is an easy habit to build.
Repotting
Because a camellia grows slowly and lives long, a potted one only needs moving on every 2 to 3 years or once it is clearly rootbound. Reach for an acidic, well-drained mix, and let roots circling the pot or water rushing straight through be your friendly cue.
Size & spacing
In time a mature shrub reaches 6 to 13 feet (1.8 to 4 m) tall and spreads 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) wide. Give it that room from the very start so air moves freely through the branches and disease has far less of a foothold.
When to plant
A camellia is a slow-growing evergreen you set in place once and then enjoy for decades, so there is no rush. Plant in spring or fall into a sheltered, partly shaded spot, and look forward to japonicas flowering 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 troubles land on the flowers and leaves, and the fungal ones travel through fallen debris, so none of this should worry you. Match what you see below, then clear up under the plant before anything builds. A quick tidy-up often does as much good as any spray.
Blooms browning from the middle with dark-veined petals
If your blooms brown from the center outward and the veins darken into a netted look, petal blight is the likely culprit, a fungus that you can get on top of. Cold damage can mimic it, but that one browns from the petal edges in, so look closely at where it begins. Gather up and destroy every spotted and fallen flower, because the spores linger in the soil for years and carry 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 up top, crusty scales hiding below
Tip a yellow-spotted leaf over and you may meet tea scale, a sap-sipping insect that crusts the underside with brown and white flecks while the top fades to yellow. Given time it thins the flowers and sheds leaves across several generations, but you can turn it around. Coat those undersides well with horticultural oil, and a systemic insecticide is there for you when the numbers climb.
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
Watching buds form and then fall before they open is disheartening, but the usual reason is gentle to fix: uneven moisture, most often a plant that dried out through summer while it was setting those buds. Temperature swings, freezes, poor drainage, and a lack of nutrients can play a part too. Water steadily through the heat, settle the plant where afternoon shade eases the day, and lean on 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 over leaves and stems
That black film is sooty mold, and the good news is it lives on the sticky honeydew that scale and aphids drip, not on your plant. It wipes away with a cloth and does no real harm to the leaves underneath. Sort out the insects making the honeydew and the mold simply runs out of food.
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 then brown
When spring growth arrives thick, fleshy, and oddly pale, you are probably looking at leaf gall, a fungus that favors the sasanqua types. Turn a puffy leaf over and a whitish coat of spores shows before the galls firm up and brown, which gives you a clear window to act. Pinch the swollen growth off and destroy it before that spore layer forms and you have stopped it spreading.
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
Here is the reassuring 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 holds nothing that would poison other animals or people. As with any garden plant it isn't meant to be eaten by the bowlful, but a stray nibble is nothing to lose sleep over.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
You can relax around a curious cat, since the ASPCA lists the common camellia as non-toxic and a nibble won't poison one. A cat that works through a lot of any leaf might get a passing upset stomach, and that settles on its own.
Dogs None
Your dog can live alongside the shrub and even mouth the leaves with no risk of poisoning. The most a big helping tends to bring is some mild, short-lived tummy trouble that soon passes.
Horses None
Rest easy if a horse grazes a leaf, because the plant is non-toxic to horses and a stray bite is nothing to fret over. There is no special handling you need to keep in mind around a paddock.
Rabbits None
Nothing in a camellia makes it a danger to rabbits, so you can breathe easy there. A lot of rich foliage can loosen any small animal's gut, so treat it as the odd nibble rather than a meal and all is well.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep face no known poisoning risk from a camellia, which is reassuring near a field. Like any ornamental it isn't grown to be grazed, so simply keep it out of their feed.
Birds None
Backyard and pet birds can share space with a flowering camellia in safety. The plant holds nothing that would harm them from a peck at a leaf or a petal, so there is no worry there.
People None
The shrub is grown for its flowers rather than the table, yet it poses no poisoning danger to people. You needn't keep children away beyond the everyday reminder not to chew 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 divide first into two species with different bloom seasons, then into named cultivars chosen for their flower form and color. These are the ones well worth getting to know as you begin.
Camellia japonica
The common or Japanese camellia takes its time growing, carries large glossy leaves and showy late-winter to spring blooms, and rewards you most when sheltered from hot afternoon sun.
Camellia sasanqua
This one grows quicker with smaller leaves and flowers, blooms from fall into early winter, and forgives more sun than the japonica does.
Kramer's Supreme
A japonica cultivar that gives you large, fragrant, red peony-form blooms to enjoy.
White by the Gate
A japonica cultivar loved for its tidy, formal double white flowers.
How to propagate
There are several ways to make more camellias, though every one of them takes its time, so let patience be part of the plan. The method you choose comes down to whether you want an exact copy of a cultivar or you're playing with 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.
In summer, take semi-hardwood cuttings from this season's growth and tuck them into a well-drained acidic medium, with a little rooting hormone to help your chances along. Be patient, since they root anywhere from several weeks to a few months out, and the plant settles in slowly even after that.
LayeringEasy
Spring through summer. · Several months to over a year for a layered branch to root.
If you want the kindest method to start with, wound a low branch, pin it into acidic soil, and let it root while it stays joined to the parent. Done any time from spring through summer, it asks only that you wait 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 is your friend for larger stems that won't bend to the ground, rooting them right where they are while joined to the parent. Choose healthy stems in spring or summer and give it several months to root before you separate the new plant.
GraftingDemanding
Late winter to early spring. · Several months to establish a successful graft union.
Grafting is the trickiest route, joining a choice cultivar to vigorous rootstock, so save it for when you feel ready. Do it in late winter to early spring and allow several months for the graft union to take hold.
SeedModerate
Sow fresh seed in fall after harvest. · Slow; seedlings do not come true to the parent cultivar.
Sow fresh seed in fall as soon as it ripens, but go in knowing that seedlings won't match the parent cultivar. It's a slow path that mostly suits breeding or rootstock work rather than copying a named variety.
Myths
The ornamental garden camellia is the same plant used to make tea.
You can set that worry aside, because tea comes from a separate species, Camellia sinensis. The shrubs in your garden are Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua, grown for their flowers and not for leaves to steep.
Camellias are poisonous to cats and dogs.
Happily, the ASPCA lists the common camellia (Camellia japonica) as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. A pet that chews a leaf is in no danger of poisoning, though a big mouthful of any foliage can bring on a brief, harmless stomach upset.