Sasanqua Camellia Camellia sasanqua Exquisite

Exquisite is one of the older sasanquas still in the trade, and the flower explains the persistence: single, pale pink, opening from slim buds set along the stems and shattering petal by petal instead of hanging on and browning. Growth is slow to moderate on a slightly open, layered frame, and the small glossy leaves hold all year. It belongs where people walk past it in autumn, along a path, beside steps, or in a pot near a door.

A plant for eye level

The argument for this one is the way it drops. Petals let go singly and blow away rather than collapsing on the bush, which is why a sasanqua of this type sits comfortably over paving and beside a front door where a japonica would need sweeping every second day. The layered frame reinforces the point. Branches build in tiers instead of a solid mass, so the flowers are held out along the stems where they are seen from a footpath, not buried in the face of a shrub. Position it in part shade with morning light and cover from harsh afternoon sun, in temperate or subtropical districts from the coast to the tablelands. Soil should be acidic, free draining and generously improved, mulched, not dug over, and watered moderately and evenly, never heavily and rarely.

Planting depth is the quiet one

Planting depth finishes camellias without ever announcing itself. Set the root ball level with the surrounding soil or a little proud of it. Buried a hand's width too deep, or with mulch heaped against the trunk, the collar stays permanently damp, the bark rots at ground level underneath the mulch where nobody looks, and the plant declines over two or three seasons with nothing visible above ground to explain it. People then replace the plant and repeat the mistake in the same hole. Scrape the mulch back and check the flare of the trunk on anything that is sulking, since you should be able to see where the stem widens into the roots. Leave a clear ring of bare soil at the stem and put the mulch out over the root zone where it does some good.

An older cultivar among bred hedgers

Plantation Pink is the other single pink here, denser, more upright and stronger in colour, which makes it the one for a solid boundary. Exquisite is paler and more open, and the tiered branching that suits a path also makes it easier to lay out flat as an espalier. Jennifer Susan covers similar soft pink ground as a double flower on arching wood. Being an older selection rather than one bred for clipping, Exquisite carries a looser and less uniform frame, which is an asset in an informal garden and a nuisance in a formal one. More of the group sits in the camellia range.

Training the layers

Prune straight after the last petals fall and never while the plant is in bud. The coming season's flowers are made on wood produced through spring and summer, so the window opens the moment flowering ends and closes as the new growth hardens. On an espalier, shorten the leaders to force side shoots and tie the tiers down along the wires, allowing 1.5 to 2 metres between plants so each has room to fill its own section. On a free standing plant, take out wood growing back through the centre and remove any shoot that has run vertically through the tiers, since one of those spoils a layered frame faster than anything else. Food goes on at the same time, a camellia and azalea formulation watered in, with a lighter second feed in late summer.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 70mm up to 250mm, priced from $16.95 to $87.95 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.