Camellia hiemalis hiryu

Hiryu is a Camellia hiemalis, which is the first thing to establish, because the hiemalis group is routinely sold as sasanqua and does not behave like one. It sits between the sasanquas and the japonicas and takes something from each: the sasanqua willingness to be cut, and japonica substance in the bloom. Flowers are deep crimson semi-doubles held against small, hard-textured leaves that overlap tightly along the stem. The frame is dense and slightly spreading rather than strictly upright, so it works as a low to medium hedge, an espalier on a shaded wall, or a specimen in a pot beside a doorway.

Reading the hiemalis label

The practical consequence of that label is timing. Hiryu starts after the sasanquas have been going for a while and carries on through the cooler months, so buyers expecting an autumn display decide it is late when it is simply a different group. Use it rather than fight it. Planted alongside autumn sasanquas it picks up where they stop and holds red in a shaded bed through the coldest part of the year. Cool districts draw the run out further; warm coastal gardens compress it. The position is part shade with morning light and cover from hot afternoon sun, in an acidic soil opened up with compost and kept mulched, on moderate steady water rather than a soaking followed by neglect. Growth is slow to moderate whatever you do, so a hedge grown on from small pots is a project of several seasons, and the larger grades are what you buy when the line has to read as finished on handover.

Lime is what finishes it

What catches Hiryu is alkalinity arriving from building work rather than anything the gardener did. Mortar washings off a new wall, a path poured hard against the bed, crushed limestone used as fill under paving: each of them lifts the pH of the root zone, and the plant replies with yellow leaf blades, green veins and no extension growth. Feeding does not repair an alkaline soil. Test the ground before planting anywhere near fresh masonry, keep the bed back from a new concrete edge, and where the fill is rubble, dig the rubble out instead of planting over it. Elemental sulphur worked through ahead of planting will pull a mildly alkaline soil back into range; it will not cope with a trench full of brick offcuts. In warm humid districts keep some air moving through the plant as well, since this one holds dense growth and still shade keeps water sitting on the leaves.

Hiryu against the other reds

Yuletide is a true sasanqua, single bright red around a gold stamen boss, narrower in the shoulder and away earlier in the season, which makes it the pick for a slim autumn screen. Black Tie is a japonica, darker again, formal in the flower and more particular about aspect. Hiryu is the middle option: later than Yuletide, more forgiving than Black Tie, and readier than either to hold a low clipped shape over a long run. It is also offered across a wider spread of grades than the other two, so one cultivar can front a bed and back a boundary without a change in leaf texture. Take it when the shape of the hedge matters as much as the colour of the flower. Other hedging plants are worth comparing if the run is a long one.

Clipping a low line

Cut when the last flowers drop, which on this one falls later in the year than on the sasanquas beside it. Growth made through late spring and summer carries the buds for the next run, so a tidy up in January costs the display. On a low hedge, set plants about 700mm apart, keep the base slightly wider than the top so light reaches the bottom branches, cut to just above a leaf joint, and shear lightly and often once the shape is there rather than hard once a year. A camellia and azalea food goes on straight after the cut, onto damp soil and watered through, with a lighter second application in late summer while the buds are swelling.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 9 sizes, from 140mm up to 150L, priced from $16.95 to $1229.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to camellia hedges and winter flowers.