Practical camellia care from two decades in the garden
Helen Pritchard · October 23, 2026
If you have searched for when to fertilize camellias, you have probably seen three different answers: late winter, early spring, or “after the first frost.” Each one is right somewhere. The real answer depends on when your particular plant finishes blooming and how many weeks of growing season you have before the first hard freeze. … Read more
Helen Pritchard · June 12, 2026
Feed a camellia the wrong way, and it will punish you slowly and silently for months. That’s the blunt truth of it. I learned this the hard way when my ‘Debutante’ japonicas started throwing chlorotic yellow leaves and my prized ‘Survivor’ reticulata all but refused to bloom — both consequences of feeding choices I’d made … Read more
Helen Pritchard · January 31, 2026
After twenty-plus years of growing camellias in my Zone 7b garden, I thought I had my fertilizing routine figured out. Then came back-to-back seasons of yellowing leaves, sparse blooms, and one particularly sulky Camellia japonica Nuccio’s Gem’ that refused to…