Camellia Sasanqua is not your grandmother’s Japonica. Maybe it’s just the result of bad pruning but Camellia Japonica usually ends up looking like a ball or lollipop covered with giant fake flowers that turn brown, slimy and disgusting, requiring way too much dead heading. The Sasanqua is more natural looking in its stretching and sprawling aspect as well as its smaller but more beautiful and delicate flowers. If you don’t think you have room for it, it will happily espalier and prove you wrong.

This evergreen native of Japan is a reliable performer in the garden, as long as it doesn’t get too dried out near the end of summer when the buds will start to set. If you have your Camellia planted in an area that dries out significantly (near the house, under the eaves or elsewhere) be sure to give it some water and you’ll get the winter blooms in profusion. They can take sun, shade, frost, wind and are somewhat drought tolerant. Camellia Sasanqua is a good bet for gardeners of all levels of expertise.

Every time I see the flowers of the Camellia Sasanqua I get a moment of happiness. I hope to share a few of those moments with you.

Setsugekka is probably the most-used in the garden, at least in my neighborhood.

I’m pretty sure this is Shi Shi Gashira. I don’t usually enjoy pink (this one is at a neighbor’s house) but this is so rosy and a welcome sight in the winter.

Even the buds of the Apple Blossom are delicately painted with pink.

Apple Blossom has to be the most subtly elegant of the Sasanquas.

I’m still in love with the festive Yuletide. It’s an important component of the red tones running through my garden throughout the year.