Japanese Camellia Camellia japonica Nuccios Jewel

The flower is what sells this one. Nuccio's Jewel, raised at the Nuccio family nursery in California, opens a full peony to formal double bloom, white through the centre and deepening to rose pink at the petal edges. It flowers mid to late in the camellia season rather than in the first rush, which is worth planning around. The bush is slow, compact and slightly spreading rather than upright, so it earns a large pot, a shaded courtyard bed or a low group under trees, and it does not earn a place in a hedge line.

The bloom and its timing

Late flowering is the practical argument for this cultivar. Set among earlier japonicas it carries the shaded part of a garden through to the end of the season instead of adding to the peak, and one plant will still be opening when the rest have finished. Temperate and cool temperate gardens suit it, along with shaded courtyards in warmer coastal districts. Give it part shade with morning sun at most, an acidic free draining mix with plenty of organic matter, permanent mulch over the shallow roots, and moderate even water. Pale petals mark, so shelter from driving rain and from afternoon glare keeps the flower clean. High open shade cast by deciduous trees is close to ideal, since it delivers winter light and summer cover on exactly the schedule the plant wants. In a group planting, about a metre apart lets the spreading habit fill in without branches fighting each other.

Why the pot is the failure

People grow this cultivar in containers, and the trouble with containers is specific to camellias. A root ball that has once been allowed to dry shrinks away from the wall of the pot, and from then on every watering runs straight down the gap and out the drainage holes. The surface looks watered, the mix looks damp, the roots stay dry, and the buds set in late summer are dropped in autumn. The tell is water appearing at the base of the pot a second or two after the hose goes on. The fix is to stand the whole pot in a tub of water until the mix takes up moisture and stops bubbling, which can take an hour on a bad one, then keep it evenly damp from that point rather than letting it swing. Repot into a camellia and azalea mix before the root ball becomes a solid mat, and refresh the top few centimetres every couple of years so the surface does not turn water repellent.

Jewel against Desire

Desire covers a similar white to pink gradient but as a strict formal double on a tidier, more upright plant, and it opens earlier. Nuccios Jewel is looser in the flower, later in the season, and wider and slower in the bush, which is exactly why it belongs in a pot or a feature bed instead of a clipped run. Among the sasanquas in the camellia range, Jennifer Susan gives soft pink on arching wood months earlier if the display is wanted in autumn. Take this one for the bloom and the others for the structure.

Very little cutting

It hardly needs the secateurs. Tip prune once flowering finishes to keep the frame branched, and lift any low growth lying on the mulch so air moves underneath. Anything heavier has to happen in that same window, since the next season's buds sit on the growth that follows. Feed after flowering and again in late summer with a camellia and azalea fertiliser, at half strength in a container and always onto damp mix, because fertiliser landing on a dry root ball burns the fine roots outright. Pull spent blooms off as they brown and clear the fallen ones from underneath the plant.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 4 sizes, from 70mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $129.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to camellia hedges and winter flowers.