Practical camellia care from two decades in the garden
Helen Pritchard · September 1, 2026
Last spring, a friend called in a panic. Her prized Camellia japonica ‘Elegans’ was yellowing, dropping buds, and looking genuinely unwell. Before I could ask a single diagnostic question, she’d already dissolved an aspirin tablet in water and was reaching for a bucket of fresh cow manure from a neighboring farm. “The internet says both … Read more
Helen Pritchard · September 1, 2026
Last spring, I was deadheading spent blooms on my ‘Elegans’ camellia when I noticed something odd: tiny, perfect semicircles nibbled out of the leaf margins, like someone had used pinking shears on every other leaf. My first thought was thrips. My second was scale. Neither was right. What I was actually looking at—and what I’d … Read more
Helen Pritchard · September 1, 2026
I keep a small notebook where I record the annual growth of each camellia in my garden. After twenty years and more than 200 named cultivars across three USDA zones, I’ve learned something that most published camellia growth charts won’t tell you: the same cultivar can grow twice as fast—or half as fast—depending on three … Read more
Helen Pritchard · September 1, 2026
It was August, fifteen years into my camellia obsession, when I learned the cruelest lesson about drought. A bed of established plants—including a magnificent ‘Debutante’ that had been in the ground for eight years—looked utterly fine. The foliage was glossy. No wilting. No crispy edges. So when a particularly hot, dry spell swept through zone … Read more
Helen Pritchard · September 1, 2026
I garden in the American South—USDA zones 7b, 8a, and 8b—where I keep over two hundred named camellia cultivars. I do not garden in the UK. However, I have toured gardens in Cornwall, the Cotswolds, and Surrey, and I correspond regularly with British growers who have taught me that growing camellias in the UK is … Read more
Helen Pritchard · August 14, 2026
My inbox has been overflowing lately with photos of struggling camellias. “Is she dying?” people ask. “Should I dig her up?” “Will she come back?” I understand the panic. A camellia in decline can look genuinely hopeless—wilted leaves, yellowing growth, dropped buds. But here’s what twenty-plus years of tending over two hundred named cultivars has … Read more
Helen Pritchard · August 14, 2026
I’m Helen Pritchard, standing in my zone 7b garden on a chilly December morning, with a beautiful camellia in full bloom behind me. It’s ‘Donation’—an orchid-pink semiflower so generous with its petals that I swear it produces more flowers than foliage. Around it, a dozen other cultivars are either budding or already flowering, completely unbothered … Read more
Helen Pritchard · August 14, 2026
Every spring, my inbox fills with fertiliser questions. “Helen, can I use tomato feed on my camellias?” “Is Epsom salt the answer to yellowing leaves?” “What about coffee grounds?” After twenty years and two hundred named cultivars, I’ve learned one thing: gardeners love a kitchen-cupboard shortcut. The trouble is, is tomato feed good for camellias—and … Read more
Helen Pritchard · August 6, 2026
I remember the moment I first spotted something wrong with my Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide.’ Tiny silvery patches had appeared on the upper surfaces of several leaves, almost like sunscald. The plant sat in a bright corner of my garden, so I assumed—wrongly—that it was sun damage. I left it alone for three weeks while the … Read more
Helen Pritchard · August 6, 2026
I get this question at least once a month, usually from someone standing in their garden in late winter, watching a few straggly blooms appear after weeks of heavy flowering. “Helen,” they ask hopefully, “is my camellia reblooming? Can camellias bloom twice a year?” Short answer: no. An individual camellia plant does not produce two … Read more