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46 DECEMBER 13, 2007
Camellias and other winter plants
(Excludes Knife
of the Month)
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Practical Goods for Natural Living
get a few questions every fall when
camellias produce their improbably
showy flowers. Aren’t they a bit early,
people ask? Well, no. Fall-blooming camel-
lias (Camellia sasanqua) come out in
October every year. Sometimes the show is
cut short by an early freeze. This year, at least
right here in town, the weather remained
frost-free until mid-November, allowing us to
get full value from the camellias and a couple
of other broad-leafed evergreens – all of them
excellent garden shrubs that just happen to
bloom in autumn.
Camellias are certainly the grandest of
these, with flowers in a variety of colors.
White, apple-blossom pink-and-white, light
pink and deep pink is the basic range. Some
have double flowers a good two inches wide.
Others are single, the flowers up to three
inches across with a conspicuous cluster of
yellow stamens. Late-blooming ‘Yuletide’
has deep red single flowers that are smaller
than average but very abundant. A few vari-
eties of C. sasanqua are lightly fragrant.
The plants vary in growth habit, too.
Some are a little lax and mounding, while
others (especially ‘Yuletide’) are boldly up-
right. None is quite as stiff and formal-look-
ing, though, as spring-blooming Camellia
japonica. Flowers on C. sasanqua are most
prolific with at least half a day of sun, but the
plants grow and bloom quite satisfactorily on
a shady wall where most other plants would
sulk. Some varieties are really easy to train on
a wall or a trellis, and their moderate growth
rate makes camellias a good choice for con-
tainers.
For serious October fragrance, nothing
beats Osmanthus heterophyllus (holly os-
manthus). The pure white flowers are tiny but
numerous, and the scent will carry a long way
on a warm fall afternoon. If you can, plant it
somewhere sunny, where it will bloom abun-
dantly and adopt a better form. Don’t worry if
a new plant fails to bloom: Flower production
will increase as the plant matures.
There is nothing wrong with plain green
holly osmanthus, but there are several vari-
eties with distinctive foliage. The leaves of
‘Purpureus’ (which is said to be the hardiest
cultivar) are maroon purple as they emerge,
becoming dark green and lustrous. They
show off the flowers nicely. ‘Variegates’ has
leaves heavily marked with cream and is one
of the best variegated evergreens for our area.
‘Goshiki’ has yellow-speckled leaves. All are
relatively slow growers that can be controlled
easily by pruning.
Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) is a close
relative of madrone, but this popular compact
form is much smaller. It is not as small as
books and labels say, however, so don’t ex-
pect it to stay below six feet forever!
Strawberry tree will adapt to sun or shade and
becomes quite picturesque in old age if left
unpruned when the shreddy, red-brown bark
becomes more visible. This is a workhorse of
a plant that may go un-noticed until October,
when the bell-shaped, ivory flowers appear in
clusters similar to those of madrone. It often
sports, at the same time, spherical scarlet
fruits that spent a whole year ripening.
Camellia and osmanthus are excellent as
hedging plants, and unlike the popular cherry
laurel and Portugal laurel, they are not (as far
as I know) invasive. Strawberry tree looks
best as a single specimen or planted in small
groups, and old ones look marvelous under-
planted with hardy cyclamen and perhaps the
beautiful variegated form of evergreen Iris fe-
tidissima — both of which are, like straw-
berry tree, drought tolerant.
Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is an
honorary evergreen. When the tiny leaves drop
off in autumn the stems remain bright green.
Thus it looks very much alive even before the
bright yellow flowers appear. A hard frost can
kill unopened buds, but the light freezes that are
far more common in fall will damage only open
flowers, leaving some buds to open over a period
of many weeks. (My plants, like many others I
know, bloom in November and December, but
I’m told that some specimens don’t bloom until
after the new year.)
Most jasmines twine, but winter jasmine
is a floppy shrub. It tolerates drought, neglect
and a fair amount of shade. It is happy — and
spectacular — sprawling over a bank or a re-
taining wall, but it is easy to train on a post,
wall or trellis, where it takes up much less
space. The flowers are scentless. You can’t
have everything. When you get back in the
garden in early spring, cut off or shorten the
stems that carried flowers. Prune as hard as
you like: The long green shoots that grow
during spring and summer will carry next
winter’s flowers.
ew
Rachel Foster of Eugene is a garden consultant and
author of All About Gardens, a selection of past EW
columns. She can be reached at rfoster@efn.org