7 Camellia Varieties I Wish I Had Planted FirstSave

7 Camellia Varieties I Wish I Had Planted First

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When I planted my first camellia back in 2003, I had no idea what I was doing. I bought a generic, unlabeled plant from a big-box nursery, stuck it in full sun with clay soil, and watched it slowly sulk for two years before finally giving up. That one mistake cost me time, money, and a fair amount of pride. Over the next two decades I’ve grown well over sixty named varieties in my zone 7b garden in northern Georgia, killed probably a dozen of them through bad decisions, propagated hundreds more from cuttings, and spent countless hours comparing notes with longtime members of the American Camellia Society. What I have now is hard-won knowledge — and a list I genuinely wish someone had handed me on day one.

These aren’t the seven most popular camellias on the internet. They’re the seven varieties that, in my own soil and climate, proved themselves to be reliable, beautiful, and worth every penny. If you’re trying to find the best camellia varieties for a real garden — not a catalog photo — this is the list I would have wanted.

1. ‘Pink Perfection’ — The One That Never Lets You Down

If I had to plant just one camellia for someone who had never grown them before, it would be ‘Pink Perfection.’ This Camellia japonica cultivar produces perfectly formed, soft shell-pink formal double flowers that are almost absurdly flawless — the kind of bloom that makes visitors stop mid-sentence. I’ve had mine for fourteen years and it has never skipped a bloom season, even after the brutal February 2021 freeze that took temperatures down to 7°F in my area.

The plant itself is tidy, upright, and slow-growing, which means it fits well in smaller garden spaces without constant pruning. It blooms mid-season, typically late February into March for me, which keeps it out of the worst of the hard freeze window that damages earlier varieties. If you’re just getting started and want to order a plant without overthinking it, Perfect Plants ships a healthy, well-rooted specimen: Perfect Plants Pink Perfection Camellia Bush 1 Gallon. It’s a solid place to start.

2. ‘Shishi Gashira’ — My Workhorse Sasanqua

Most gardeners think of camellias as spring bloomers, and that’s mostly true for Camellia japonica. But the sasanqua species blooms in fall, and ‘Shishi Gashira’ is the one I recommend to absolutely everyone in zones 6b through 9. Mine starts opening in October and carries semi-double rose-pink flowers well into December. That fall color, when almost nothing else is blooming in the garden, is genuinely spectacular.

Beyond the bloom time, ‘Shishi Gashira’ is tough. It handles more sun exposure than most camellias — I have one growing in a spot that gets five to six hours of direct afternoon sun and it performs beautifully with adequate moisture. The compact, spreading habit also makes it excellent for low hedges or mass plantings. I’ve used it along a 40-foot slope where nothing else would establish, and after year two it required almost no supplemental watering. Perfect Plants also carries this one: PERFECT PLANTS Shi Shi Camellia Shrub 1 Gal. Pot. Start with at least three if you want any kind of massed effect — you won’t regret it.

3. ‘Lady Vansittart’ — For the Gardener Who Wants Something Truly Unique

‘Lady Vansittart’ is the variety I pull out when someone tells me all camellias look the same. The semi-double flowers are white with bold pink and red striping — no two blooms are quite identical, and the color variation can differ even branch to branch on the same plant. I planted mine in 2009 and it still draws more comments than any other plant in my garden. It’s also proven reliably cold hardy, coming through several sub-20°F events in my zone 7b location without significant bud damage.

One honest caveat here: ‘Lady Vansittart’ is slower to establish than some varieties. My plant took a full three years before it really hit its stride, and for the first two seasons I was a little anxious about it. Don’t give up on it. By year four it was putting on 12 to 18 inches of new growth annually and blooming heavily. If you want to add it to your garden, this is a nice, established container option: Blooming & Beautiful – Lady Vansittart Camellia – 3 Gal. The larger pot size helps get it past that slow-start period faster.

4. ‘October Magic Orchid’ — The Cold-Hardy Sasanqua That Surprised Me

‘October Magic Orchid’ is a more recent introduction from the Southern Living Plant Collection, and I’ll admit I was skeptical when I first trialed it in 2016. I don’t usually chase new releases. But this one earned its place. The dark green, glossy foliage is exceptional — some of the best foliage on any camellia I grow — and the lavender-pink semi-double flowers are an unusual color for the species. It’s rated to zone 6b, and in my experience that rating holds up. This is now one of the first varieties I recommend to gardeners who have lost japonica buds to late cold snaps.

5. ‘April Kiss’ — My Favorite Cold-Hardy Japonica

‘April Kiss’ is part of the April Series developed by Ackerman Camellia Hybridizers specifically for cold hardiness. These cultivars were bred to survive temperatures down to -10°F, which is zone 6a territory. For gardeners in 7b like me, that means essentially bulletproof bud and bloom survival in all but the most catastrophic freeze events. The flowers are a rich, deep rose-pink semi-double that holds its form even in wet weather — something that matters a lot in a Georgia spring. I’ve been growing this one since 2011 and have never had a year without blooms.

6. ‘Kanjiro’ — The Sasanqua That Grows Like a Small Tree

‘Kanjiro’ (also sold as ‘Hiryu’) is a vigorous, upright sasanqua that in my garden has reached 12 feet tall over 15 years with minimal pruning. The flowers are a vivid rose-pink, semi-double, and produced in enormous quantities from October through December. The upright habit makes it excellent for screening or as a specimen in a corner where you need height. It is arguably the most floriferous camellia I own — some years it is so covered in blooms that you can barely see the foliage. Be prepared to give it space. I’ve seen gardeners plant it where they have three feet and then spend years fighting it back.

7. ‘Winter’s Star’ — The Best Camellia for the Northern Edge

‘Winter’s Star’ is an oleifera hybrid that was developed specifically for cold tolerance. It has been documented surviving -15°F in trials, which puts it solidly in zone 5b territory. For my zone 7b garden it almost feels like overkill — but I planted one eight years ago along a north-facing wall that gets brutal cold air drainage, and it has never flinched. The single, lavender-pink flowers are more delicate-looking than the formal doubles many people associate with camellias, but there’s a quiet elegance to them that I’ve come to appreciate. If you’re on the edge of camellia territory and aren’t sure whether the genus will survive your winters, start here.

What I Use and Recommend

I’m particular about sourcing plants because variety accuracy matters enormously with camellias — a mislabeled plant is a years-long frustration. For home gardeners who want healthy, correctly labeled specimens shipped to their door, I’ve had good results with Perfect Plants for common varieties. Three that I’d specifically point you toward:

For soil amendment, I amend every planting hole with aged pine bark fines to bring pH into the 5.5 to 6.5 range that camellias prefer. I also apply a camellia-specific slow-release fertilizer — I’ve used Espoma Camellia-tone for over a decade — in early spring just as new growth begins, and again lightly in June. I never fertilize after August. That late-season push of soft growth is exactly what gets killed by early frost.

Final Thoughts

After twenty-two years of growing camellias, the question I get most often is still “which one should I plant first?” The honest answer is: any of the seven on this list, chosen to match your specific conditions. Match the bloom time to your climate, match the cold hardiness rating to your zone with a buffer of at least half a zone, and get the soil pH right before you plant. Do those three things and camellias will reward you for decades. Get them wrong, and even the best camellia varieties in the world will struggle.

I’ve made every mistake worth making in this garden. These seven cultivars are the ones that have earned permanent spots regardless. Start with one, learn it well, and I promise you’ll be back for more.