Home » Plants & Animals » English Gardening » Camellia Lore

Camellia Lore

© Graham Leatherbarrow

With spring edging ever closer, we have snowdrops beginning to bloom, hellebore flower spikes bursting forth and birdsong slowly increasing. This time of year is a perfect time to start spreading leafmould and compost over the flowerbeds before they disappear from view altogether under a canopy of green growth. For gardeners, forward planning is essential and with this in mind I try each year to collect as many autumn leaves each year as storage space allows. Collected in ordinary black plastic bags, making sure the leaves are damp to begin with, punching a few holes in the bottom of each bag and then finally tying each securely at the top. These bags of leaves can then be left in a corner of the garden to 'mature' for later use. This normally takes eighteen months to two years, after which perfect organic matter is left to use around the garden. This method also neatly avoids the space required for unsightly compost heaps. Of course, you can never have enough of good organic matter, but this way you avoid the expense of buying it which is never cheap. So, make a mental note now to collect this free resource this coming autumn.

Spring is always a time to savour and enjoy after the long cold, dark days of winter. Daylight is increasing and February usually brings some warm sunny days when the sun's increasing strength is felt.

Camellias are very welcome spring shrubs, which will soon be joining the early spring flowers in welcoming another gardening season. Now, for some, Camellias are associated with dark forbidding Victorian gardens encased in gloom. I must say, this idea is very old fashioned nowadays and many Camellias can be grown in small town garden within containers without any trouble at all and their size controlled accordingly. Not only can you enjoy the gorgeous blooms of these shrubs close at hand this way, but it also gives the town gardener the opportunity to grow these acid soil lovers where the rest of the garden is too alkaline.

Camellias in general prefer a slightly acid soil, which is also free draining and contains plenty of leafmould. By far the widest range of colours is to be found amongst the C. japonica group. In the wild, Camellia japonica is widely distributed from southern China, Taiwan, Korea and the islands of Japan.

They certainly give us all the reds and bicolours, and show a wide variation in leaf shape and size, as well as habit.

The copyright of the article Camellia Lore in English Gardening is owned by . Permission to republish Camellia Lore in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.