Japanese Camellia
Camellia japonica
A long-lived Southern favourite with glossy evergreen leaves and big white, pink or red flowers from fall to early spring, depending on variety. It's happiest in part shade, out of drying winter wind, in rich, acid, well-drained soil. It's slow to settle in; watch for scale and petal blight.
- Mature size
- 11 × 7.5 ft
- 3.5 × 2.3 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Part sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- Jan–Mar
Japanese Camellia at its mature size
A mature Japanese Camellia grows 10 to 13 feet tall and 5 to 10 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Clemson Extension.
Through the year
What Japanese Camellia looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In flower · Jan–Mar
Glossy leaves with large red and pink rose-like flowers.
In leaf · Apr–Dec
Glossy dark green leaves, no flowers.
Photos
Growing Japanese Camellia
- Grows well in
- The Southeast, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, shade garden, deer resistant, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- China, Japan, and Korea
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Japanese Camellia, that’s about 7.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Japanese Camellia in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other camellias
Kramer's Supreme Camellia
White by the Gate Camellia
Winter's Snowman Camellia
Japanese CamelliaAll drawn to the same scale.