Best of the bunch: Camelia (From Worcester News)

Best of the bunch: Camelia

11:08am Monday 30th March 2009 in Gardening

THESE beautiful, blousy evergreen shrubs look fantastic in early spring, their dazzling flowers in shades of white, pink and red contrasting well with the glossy green leaves. They go well in many situations against walls, in hedges or as superb standalone specimens in containers.

Plant them in acid soil or in ericaceous compost in pots, in sun or dappled shade and they’re pretty easy to look after. They usually grow into large shrubs or small trees so give them enough space to fill out.

The most popular species is camellia japonica and good varieties of that include C. japonica ‘Alba Plena’, whose small double white flowers open in early spring and ‘Adelphe Audusson’, a compact type ideally suited to a container, which produces semi-double red flowers in spring.