Sasanqua Camellia Camellia sasanqua setsugekka

Most sasanquas are dense and rounded. Setsugekka is not, and that changes what you can do with it. The flowers are large and white with wavy, almost crumpled petals around a boss of gold stamens, opening through autumn into early winter, and they drop singly to leave a white carpet underneath rather than browning on the bush. The habit is upright and open, which makes it one of the sasanquas that trains flat convincingly, although it will still clip into a hedge if that is what is wanted.

The one that trains flat

An open frame is a liability in a hedge and an advantage on a wall. There is enough space between the branches to lay them out on wires without cutting half the plant away to get a pattern, and blooms this size sit forward off a flat frame where they read from a distance instead of being lost in a dense face. Space espalier plants around 2 metres apart along the wires and let the natural openness cover the ground between them; for a hedge, 700mm and more frequent clipping. Temperate and subtropical gardens both suit it. Part shade with morning sun suits it, and shelter from driving rain keeps a large white flower clean, because a bloom this size shows every mark. Soil acidic, free draining and humus rich, the root ball set proud of the surrounding level, mulched generously without burying the stem, and watered moderately and evenly through the first summer in particular.

Rain shadow under an eave

Wall training brings its own problem, and it is the rain shadow. A plant tied flat under an eave receives very little of the rain that falls on the rest of the garden, and because the surrounding beds look damp after a downpour nobody thinks to water it. The camellia dries at the root, sheds its buds and thins from the base upward, and the diagnosis usually offered is disease. Put a dripper on any espalier that sits under cover, run it right through summer on a controller rather than relying on somebody noticing, and check under the mulch by hand through the first year while you learn how fast that particular strip dries. The same applies to a plant trained on a fence with a wide capping, or anything against a wall with a deep overhang.

Feature plant, not hedge unit

Pure Silk is the other white sasanqua here and it is the denser and more uniform plant, which is what a long hedge run needs. Setsugekka is larger and looser in the flower and more open in the frame, so it is the one to lay on a wall, stand as a single feature, or plant where a lighter and more architectural shape is wanted. Beatrice Emily is the choice for a formal white with a lavender wash instead. The petal fall here is heavier than on the smaller flowered sasanquas, and the white carpet beneath the plant is part of the effect rather than a mess to clear, which is an argument for planting it over garden bed rather than over paving. Trained plants are grown on into the advanced trees grades, and the large blooms cut well for the house.

Leaders, ties and timing

Prune immediately after flowering. An open frame tempts people to thin it in summer, which removes the wood that would have carried the next display. On an espalier, shorten the leaders to force side shoots, tie in the growth you want while it is still soft enough to bend, and cut everything else back to a couple of leaves. Check the ties every year and loosen them before they cut into thickening wood, since a tie left on an espalier for three seasons will ringbark the branch it was meant to hold. Feed a wall trained plant twice a year with a camellia and azalea product and water it in hard, because granules left on the dry mulch of a rain shadow strip will sit there unmoved until somebody notices. Top the mulch up over the root zone afterwards.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 12 sizes, from 70mm up to 150L, priced from $16.95 to $1209.00 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.