Practical camellia care from two decades in the garden
Helen Pritchard · June 28, 2026
Back in the winter of my fifth year growing camellias seriously, I nearly lost an entire bed because I misread what was happening in front of me. I’d stepped out with a mug of tea to admire ‘Debutante’ — a soft blush japonica that had anchored my Zone 8a border for over a decade at … Read more
Helen Pritchard · June 26, 2026
Most camellia growers don’t realize tea scale is already on their plants. I didn’t either—not until I zoomed in on the underside of a leaf from my ‘Yuletide’ one February morning and found what looked like tiny cream-colored bumps arranged in neat rows. That’s when I understood why my otherwise healthy japonica had started dropping … Read more
Helen Pritchard · March 3, 2026
Ask a nursery employee how to handle aphids on camellias and you might hear “just hose them off.” Ask a different one, or scroll through enough gardening forums, and you’ll be told to reach straight for a systemic insecticide before you’ve even described what’s happening on the leaf. That second answer is the one to … Read more
Helen Pritchard · March 1, 2026
A soggy stretch of March weather settled over my zone 8a garden one year, and when the clouds finally broke, I walked out to find my ‘Debutante’ japonica covered in something I’d never seen before — swollen, waxy lumps where healthy leaves should have been. My first thought was that she was on her way … Read more
Helen Pritchard · February 26, 2026
No nursery tag has ever warned me about this, and most general care guides skip it entirely: camellias can be quietly dying from the roots up while the leaves still look presentable enough to fool you. I learned this the hard way with my ‘Nuccio’s Gem’, which was well into root rot before I noticed … Read more
Helen Pritchard · February 24, 2026
Every leaf on my ‘Survivor’ sasanqua had gone a flat, ashy black by the afternoon I finally stopped to really look at it, and that color alone told me something was badly wrong before I’d even touched a branch. It reminded me of chimney soot brushed across the foliage — dark, powdery, unsettling to see … Read more
Helen Pritchard · February 21, 2026
Last February, I walked out to my garden and felt my stomach drop. My Kramer’s Supreme’ japonicas — plants I had been nursing for over a decade in my Zone 8 garden — were covered in the telltale brown blotches…
Helen Pritchard · February 5, 2026
Last spring, I walked out to my back garden and felt my stomach drop. A dozen of my most treasured camellias — plants I had nurtured for over two decades in my Zone 8b garden — were coated in what…
Helen Pritchard · January 21, 2026
Last November, I walked out to check on my camellias and noticed something that made my stomach drop. A white, waxy crust had built up along the stems of my oldest Japonica — Kramer’s Supreme,’ a plant I’ve been nurturing…
Helen Pritchard · December 9, 2025
Left untreated, a pest problem can unravel years of patient camellia growing in a single season—that’s the blunt truth of it. These shrubs give us flowers when the rest of the garden has gone quiet, and their deep green, glossy foliage keeps things interesting straight through winter. But that beauty comes at a cost: pests … Read more