Sasanqua Camellia Camellia sasanqua Paradise Blush

Paradise Blush comes from the Paradise series, bred on the New South Wales Central Coast and selected for hedging rather than for show benches. The flowers are pale, flushed pink towards the petal edges, opening through autumn into early winter. What the breeding actually gives you sits underneath the flower: small leaves, fine twiggy growth and a willingness to be clipped into a true hedge instead of a row of shrubs. Screening and clipped shapes in pots are the work it was selected for.

Bred for clipping, not for the show bench

The distinction matters when you are choosing between this and an older cultivar. Selections made for exhibition are judged on a single bloom and can carry a coarse leaf and an uneven frame without losing anything on the day. The Paradise plants were selected on the frame instead, so the leaf is small, the internodes are short, and the response to a cut is a flush of side shoots rather than one replacement leader. That is what holds a clipped face flat and keeps a hedge furnished at the base. It also means the plant tolerates being sheared more often than a show cultivar would, which is how a dense face gets built. Growth is still slow to moderate, so the density comes from branching rather than from speed, and a hedge grown on from small stock is measured in seasons.

Hard water and limestone country

Water chemistry is what catches gardeners on this one, and nothing about it is visible until the damage is done. Bore water in dry inland districts is commonly hard, and repeated irrigation with it, or planting into soil that is naturally high in lime, pushes the root zone alkaline over a couple of seasons. Iron and manganese lock up, the leaf blades pale while the veins stay green, and the plant stops extending. A hedge shows it unevenly, so one section looks sick while the rest grows away, which sends people looking for a disease that is not there. Use rainwater where there is a tank, an acidifying camellia and azalea fertiliser where there is not, and test the pH before committing to a long run that cannot easily be pulled out and replaced. Part shade with morning light, acidic free draining soil with plenty of organic matter through it, mulch instead of cultivation, and moderate steady water cover the rest.

Blush or Pearl

Paradise Pearl is the sibling from the same breeding programme, offered in the smaller and mid grades and aimed at a hedge you train from the beginning. Paradise Blush carries the pink flush at the petal edge and is grown on here into advanced sizes, so it also covers the job where a screen has to look settled on the day it arrives. Against Plantation Pink, which is stronger in flower colour and more upright in frame, Paradise Blush is the finer and more restrained hedge. The two Paradise selections share a leaf size and a clipping response, so a run of one can be extended with the other without a break in texture. Choose on colour, and on how soon the screen has to work. Plants around 700mm apart close over; drop to 500mm only where a narrow line has to form quickly.

The clipping regime

Shear when the last flowers go over. That window, plus a second light pass a few weeks later if the face needs it, is all you get, because buds for the following autumn are laid down on the growth that follows the cut and a trim in late summer or autumn removes the display everybody was waiting for. Light and regular is what builds a dense face, and the plant answers each pass with side shoots. Keep the top of the hedge narrower than the base so light reaches the lower branches. An acidifying camellia and azalea product goes down behind the first pass and again as the buds form, which on hard water also helps hold the root zone where it needs to be. Clipped plants in pots want smaller, more frequent feeds at reduced strength. Sweep the shed petals off paving under a run.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 8 sizes, from 70mm up to 75L, priced from $16.95 to $649.00 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.