Every spring, I walk my garden after the last japonicas have finished blooming, and I face the same question I get asked more than almost any other: should I be deadheading camellias? It sounds simple. Pull off the dead flowers, keep things tidy, move on. However, after twenty-plus years and a collection that now runs … Read more
Monthly Camellia Care Calendar: What to Do Every Month of the Year After decades of growing camellias in my garden, I’ve learned that success comes from understanding what your plants need at each stage of their annual cycle. Rather than treating camellia care as a vague year-round task, I’ve found it enormously helpful to follow … Read more
Every spring, I get some version of the same message from a fellow camellia grower: “Helen, I pruned my camellias and now they won’t bloom. What did I do wrong?” Knowing when to prune camellias is honestly one of the most critical pieces of camellia knowledge you can have — and it’s one of the … Read more
I killed a ‘Nuccio’s Gem’ once. Not through neglect, not through frost, but through water — or more precisely, through watering it the exact same way in July as I did in February. It sat in my Zone 8a garden looking increasingly sorry for itself all summer, leaves yellowing at the edges, new growth limp … Read more
Every spring, I get the same email from frustrated gardeners. Their camellia is lush, green, and absolutely thriving — except for one glaring problem. No flowers. Not a single bloom. If you are dealing with a camellia not blooming, I want you to know something important: this is almost always fixable. After twenty years of … Read more
Every spring, I walk my garden and feel that familiar mix of excitement and mild guilt. The camellias are pushing out fresh growth, and I know it’s time to fertilize. For years, I fumbled through this — overfeeding here, forgetting entirely there — until my ‘Debutante’ japonicas started throwing chlorotic yellow leaves and my prized … Read more
Last spring, I walked out to check on my ‘Donation’ camellia — a gorgeous Williamsii hybrid I’ve babied for six years in my Zone 8a garden — and stopped dead in my tracks. Half the leaves had turned a sickly, washed-out yellow overnight. My stomach dropped. I’d seen camellia leaves turning yellow before, but never … Read more
Every February, my neighbor stops at the fence and asks the same question: “Helen, how on earth is that thing blooming in winter?” She’s pointing at my Camellia japonica ‘Nuccio’s Gem,’ its pristine white double blooms completely unbothered by frost. I love that question. It leads perfectly into the thing camellia enthusiasts get asked most … Read more
Every spring, I walk my garden and do what I call my “mulch audit.” Last April, I crouched down beside my ‘Nuccio’s Jewel’ japonica and scooped up a handful of the material around its base. It smelled earthy, felt loose and crumbly, and the soil underneath was a deep, rich chocolate brown. That bed gets … Read more
Last June, I nearly lost two of my most prized camellias to summer drought stress. I’ve been growing camellias in Zone 7b for over two decades, so you’d think I’d have the watering thing figured out. But that summer hit…
