Camellia
Camellia japonica
An acid-soil evergreen flowering in late winter, which is both its great virtue and its great vulnerability: the buds are formed the previous summer and the open flowers are browned by morning sun after a frost. It cannot be grown in the ground on chalk, and an east-facing wall is the classic wrong position.
- Position
- Partial shade or Dappled shade
- Water
- moderate demand
- Drainage
- Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
- Grows to
- 150–400 cm × 120–300 cm
- Hardiness
- H5
- Flowers
- February to April
- Difficulty
- Some care needed
August
Nothing to do
No sowing, planting, harvesting or pruning window falls in August.
Coming next month: plant.
Camellia’s year
Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.
| Activity | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant | March. | April. | September. | October. | ||||||||
| In flower | February. | March. | April. | |||||||||
| Prune | April. | May. |
Timing that travels
The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.
Conditions it needs
- Light
- Partial shade, Dappled shade
- Frost
- Hardy
- Hardiness rating
- H5 (RHS)
- Grows best at
- 12–22 °C
- Soil
- Loam, Peat-free compost
- Soil pH
- 5–6.5Sourced guidanceDepends on conditions
- Drainage
- Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
- Water needs
- moderate
- Drought
- poor tolerance
- Waterlogging
- poor tolerance
- Heat
- moderate tolerance
- Wind and exposure
- poor tolerance
Where these figures come from
- LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — position
Checked 2026-08-13
- FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
- Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings
Checked 2026-08-13
- Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
- SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
- Soil pHSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence
Applies when: A genuine requirement rather than a preference. On soil containing free chalk the plant cannot take up iron and declines whatever is fed to it, and no realistic amount of acidifying material changes that.
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
- DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
- Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
A dry August is what causes the following spring's buds to drop unopened.
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
On your soil
Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.
| Soil | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy clay | Works, with one condition | Camellia will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse. |
| Sandy | Works, with one condition | Camellia will crop on sandy, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure. |
| Chalky and alkaline | Struggles here | Camellias cannot be grown in the ground on chalk. Free calcium carbonate locks iron into forms the plant cannot take up, so the leaves yellow between the veins and the plant declines whatever is fed to it — and the chalk keeps weathering into the soil, so acidifying materials are buffered away as fast as they are added. The pH numbers alone understate this: it is not a preference missed by a point, it is a hard chemical limit. |
| Loam | Prefers this soil | Loam suits Camellia as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering. |
| Silty | Grows well here | Camellia grows perfectly well on silty without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose. |
| Peaty and acid | Works, with one condition | Camellia will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse. |
| Shallow over rock | Works, with one condition | Camellia will crop on shallow over rock, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure. |
| Made ground and urban soil | Struggles here | Camellia struggles on made ground and urban soil: The soil is substantially too alkaline for it: it wants pH 5 to 6.5, and this soil sits around 7.2 to 7.8. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold. A container or a raised bed of imported soil sidesteps the problem entirely. |
Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.
Space and spacing
- Mature height
- 150–400 cm
- Mature spread
- 120–300 cm
- Rooting depth
- 50 cm
- Spacing
- 150–250 cm apart
Where these figures come from
- Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — spacing
Checked 2026-08-13
In a container
- Minimum volume
- 40 litres or more
- Minimum depth
- 40 cm
Where the container figures come from
- Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
The only way to grow one on chalk: ericaceous compost, and rainwater rather than tap water where the tap water is hard.
Habit and ultimate size
What the plant becomes, rather than what it is when you buy it. The gap between the two is where most planting mistakes live.
- Foliage
- Evergreen
- In a container
- Good in a container long-term
Where these figures come from
- FoliageSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia japonica — foliage
Checked 2026-08-13
- In a containerHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Growth rate
- Slow — under about 30 cm a year
- Ultimate height
- 150–400 cm
- Ultimate spread
- 120–300 cm
- Time to reach it
- 20–30 yearsSourced guidance
Where these figures come from
- Growth rateSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia japonica — growth rate
Checked 2026-08-13
- Ultimate heightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia japonica — ultimate height
Checked 2026-08-13
- Ultimate spreadSourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia japonica — ultimate spread
Checked 2026-08-13
- Time to reach itSourced guidancelow confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia japonica — time to ultimate size
Checked 2026-08-13
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Where and how you can grow it
Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.
| Method | Suitability | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Container | Well suitedsourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | 40 litres; Ericaceous compost; Rainwater where the tap water is hard |
| Open ground | WorkablesourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | On acid soil only. Impossible in the ground on chalk. |
| Traditional dug bed | WorkablesourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Raised bed | WorkablesourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | A raised bed of ericaceous compost over chalk gradually reverts as the ground below leaches into it. |
| Greenhouse | WorkablesourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Hydroponics | Not suitablesourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 |
Growing it
- PlantingAvoid an east-facing position. The flowers are frost-hardy in bud but the open blooms are damaged by rapid thawing, so morning sun on a frosted flower turns it brown within hours. A west or north aspect thaws slowly and keeps the flowers clean.
- WateringWater through dry spells in late summer, when next spring's flower buds are forming. Bud drop the following February is almost always caused by drought the previous August, which makes it one of the least intuitive cause-and-effect pairs in gardening.
- FeedingAn ericaceous feed in spring after flowering, and a second light one in early summer at the latest — nothing after July, because the buds for next spring are formed in late summer and a late nitrogen feed pushes soft growth instead. Yellowing leaves with green veins mean the plant cannot get iron, which on a camellia usually means alkaline soil or hard tap water rather than a shortage of fertiliser; the fix is ericaceous compost, rainwater and a sequestered iron treatment, not more feed. The other classic failure — buds forming perfectly and then dropping off unopened over winter — is a dry August, not a hungry one.
- PruningPrune straight after flowering, in spring, and only as much as you need to — camellias make a good shape on their own and most never need it. The reason for the timing is the same as for a rhododendron: the buds for next spring are formed during the summer, so anything cut after about midsummer is next year's flowers. Thin crossing or crowded branches to let light into the middle, and shorten any shoot that has broken the outline. An old, bare-based camellia can be cut back hard into old wood after flowering and will usually break from it, losing a year or two of display in exchange.
Where this guidance comes from
- PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — position
Checked 2026-08-13
- WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellia — bud drop
Checked 2026-08-13
- FeedingSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellias — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
- PruningSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Camellias — pruning
Checked 2026-08-13
What goes wrong
| Problem | How often | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vine weevil | commonsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | Container-grown plants especially. The grubs eat the roots with no sign above ground until the plant collapses. |
Start from what you can see
Sources for this page
GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Royal Horticultural Society
Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.
If something is wrong with it
- Flowers dropping without setting fruit — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for camellia
- Lower leaves turning yellow — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for camellia
Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.