Achieving color into the winter months can seem like a daunting task for any garden. While adding in unique options like a bright red-twig dogwood, or the stunning yellow glow of a king’s gold mop cypress provide a strong color story, nothing beats a bright magnificent bloom.
So how does one achieve blooms in their winter and early spring garden?
Well, you need not look any further than the camellia sasanqua and camellia japonica to answer these questions. These spectacular shrubs provide plenty of blooms across multiple months where other spring and summer standards lack.
Depending on variety, the spring blooming camellia japonica will add splashes of whites, pinks and reds from late winter through spring. The japonica is known for its large double and formal double blooms, these slow growing shrubs are sure to make an impact on any landscape for many years to come.
For a bloom starting in the early fall and continuing into the winter consider the camellia sasanqua. While smaller than the japonica blossoms, the single or half double blooms make up in quantity what they lack in size. Additionally, these blooms graced with all shades of white, pink or red, are often brightly contrasted with a center of bright yellow stamens competing for the attention of pollinators.
What are the benefits to such a late or early bloomer?
Aside from adding great visual interest to your garden, camellias add a vital source of food for those pollinators stocking up before the temperatures drop, searching for food during winter, or ones emerging early to re-build their populations.
From bees, flies, butterflies, and hummingbirds the bright contrast of the camellia sasanqua and some japonica blooms act as a lighthouse to those in desperate need of additional food when there are few other species in flower.
