Sasanqua Camellia Camellia sasanqua Yuletide

Look at the centre of the flower and you can see where Yuletide gets used. The blooms are single and a clean bright red, and the ring of gold stamens in the middle reads from across a garden in a way the fuller pink sasanquas do not. It flowers late in the sasanqua season, carrying colour into winter, and the habit is dense, upright and narrow in the shoulder, so it clips into a slim hedge or a screen along a fence without taking up much ground.

Late red, into winter

The late run is what this cultivar is for. Where the autumn sasanquas have finished by the time the weather turns, Yuletide is still opening, and in cooler districts the flowering stretches further again, so it holds red in a shaded garden at the point in the year when there is least to look at. Plant it alongside earlier sasanquas rather than instead of them and the sequence covers the whole cool season. It grows from the coast to the tablelands across temperate and subtropical districts, in part shade with morning sun and afternoon protection, which is where the red stays clean instead of going dull. Keep water moderate and consistent in an acidic soil with drainage that actually works, and mulch over the shallow roots. The narrow habit needs only 600mm to 750mm between plants for a hedge, and it suits a bed squeezed between a path and a fence where a wider camellia gets cut back every year. Petal drop after rain is normal and not a fault.

Scale in still shade

The pest to watch, in exactly the still shaded positions this plant tends to get, is scale. Colonies build up on the undersides of the leaves and along the stems, they excrete honeydew, sooty mould grows on the honeydew, and the bush looks dusty and grey and flowers poorly long before anyone thinks to turn a leaf over. A narrow hedge planted hard against a fence is the worst version, because the inside face never dries and never gets inspected. Turn some leaves a few times a year, particularly on the sheltered side. Treat with horticultural oil on a mild overcast day, not in heat and not on a plant that is dry at the root, and cover the undersides properly, since the oil works by smothering on contact. Then open the plant up so air moves through it, and hold a hedge clear of the palings rather than letting it press against them.

The three reds compared

The other reds here are Hiryu and Black Tie. Hiryu is a hiemalis with deeper crimson semi-double flowers on a spreading frame, which suits a low to medium clipped line. Black Tie is a japonica, darker again, formal in the flower, more particular about aspect, and later again, running from winter into spring. Yuletide is simpler in the flower than either, narrower in habit, and the only one of the three that sheds petal by petal, which matters where a hedge sits over paving. Take Yuletide for a slim red screen, Hiryu for a low clipped line, and Black Tie for a bloom to be looked at closely. Other winter flowering plants pair with it.

Pruning a late cultivar

The timing question is sharper here than on the earlier sasanquas, because a late flowering plant finishes close to the start of spring growth. Cut as soon as the last flowers go over, which can be well into winter or right at the beginning of spring, and get it done before the new shoots extend. Wait until summer and you remove the wood carrying the coming season's buds. Keep the clip light once the narrow shape is established, since heavy cutting on an upright plant produces vertical regrowth that spoils the line. Because the cut lands so late, the first feed does too, close to the start of spring growth rather than in the middle of winter. Give a camellia and azalea product then, and a second dose as the buds form. Top the mulch up each year without piling it against the stems.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 200mm up to 400mm, priced from $42.95 to $349.00 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.