CAMELLIAS
Broad leaf evergreens with showy flowers and shiny foliage. They are native to Eastern and Southern Asia.
Protect your Camellias, the deer will eat them!
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CAMELLIA JAPONICA
Camellia japonica is the species most available in the trade. It is cultivated for its beautiful flowers and it’s shiny leaves. There are over than 200 cultivars of C japonica. First seen in Europe in late 1800’s but originated in Asia hundreds of years earlier. They have a variety of flowers from singles to doubles to anemone flowered. C. japonica flowers in late winter into spring. They can get 6-8 ft tall here on Martha’s Vineyard. Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury is a great place to see them when they are in bloom. C. japonica tend to have hardiness issues this far North so make sure to plant them in a protected spot. They are much more popular in the south where they grow much bigger.
The Ice Angel series are the hardiest of camellias we know.
“Winter Snowman” has a double white flowered bloom.
“April Remembered” has a soft pink bloom. It is a hardy Camellia developed and introduced at the University of North Carolina and Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill, NC. Growing Camellia’s on the Vineyard can be frustrating but when successful, very rewarding. There are many species and selections but most often grown are C. japonica and C. sasanqua. The plants themselves are reliably hardy outdoors but because they tend to flower in late winter/early spring the flowers are often burnt by freezing temperatures. This doesn’t seem to daunt those who desire their large, formally structured flowers. The plants can become large in time or easily kept trimmed to a neat, tight shrub.
care
*******
* Prefers soil rich
in organic matter
* Likes lots of water
yet well drained soil
* They are not
drought tolerant
* Must be protected
from deer
*Afternoon shade is best
Camellia japonica
plant
*******
* Plant against the
house or a stone wall to
offer some winter
protection
* Prefers a protected
spot because this
far north they are at the
marginsof their
hardiness zone.
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CAMELLIA SASANQUA
The flowers on the C. sasanqua’s tend to be smaller and less formal but are produced in abundance in the late autumn. This works in our favor here on the Island since we tend to have a long, languorous fall season. The sasanqua’s flowers also come in a range of colors from red through pink to white in singles and doubles and have the added advantage of being fragrant. Its not sweet or pungent its more a clean, fresh, woodsy scent that is delightful and unexpected.
Camellia Sasanqua
C. sasanqua
*******
Think ahead for
what your garden
will be like in the
Vineyard’s long,
mild autumn.
Camellia sasanqua
augment the fall garden
and make lovely, hardy
additions to it.
Camellia Sasanqua
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Camellia Sinensis
The tea we drink comes from the steeped and fermented leaves of C. sinensis. The preparations determines whether it is green or black tea. [We do not carry C sinensis but mention it only as a point of interest.]