{"product_id":"high-fragrance-camellia-camellia-high-fragrance","title":"High Fragrance Camellia - Camellia High Fragrance","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost japonica camellias are grown for flower and leaf and have no scent worth mentioning. High Fragrance is the exception people go looking for, a hybrid with the small, scented Camellia lutchuensis in its background, selected for perfume. Its medium to large peony form blooms are pale ivory pink with a deeper flush towards the rim, and the sweet scent is something you notice a step or two from the plant rather than across the garden. The bush is loose and upright rather than dense, and it is in flower from mid winter into early spring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat decides where it goes. Plant it where people pass within a metre of the flowers every day in winter: the gate you come home through, the edge of a courtyard you cross to the clothesline, or a big pot beside an outdoor seat. A screened, still corner holds the scent; a windy one blows it away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eClose to the house, out of the afternoon sun\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe conditions are standard camellia, and the standard is strict. It wants part shade, ideally morning sun followed by cover from the hot western sun that scorches camellia leaves, which makes the south or east side of a building the usual answer. It grows in temperate districts on the coast and on the tablelands, and in the subtropics in a shaded spot. It needs acid soil worked through with leaf mould or compost, and water should drain away within an hour of a heavy soak; sodden clay rots the roots, and limey ground turns the leaves pale and yellow. A pot gives you control over all of that: fill it with a mix sold for acid loving plants, and start in one big enough that it will not need moving up for several years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe honest drawback is that the flowers are fragile. Peony form blooms hold rain, the outer petals go brown first, and the whole flower eventually drops in one piece, as it does on most japonica type camellias. Wind and frost mark open flowers. A sheltered courtyard or a spot under eaves keeps them clean, which is why it does better there than on an exposed front fence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHow it sits among the other camellias\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a pink double without the perfume, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/camellia-japonica-desire\"\u003eCamellia japonica Desire\u003c\/a\u003e carries a similar pale centre and deeper rim as a tight formal double, and suits a spot where the flower will be seen rather than smelled. If what you need is a clipped hedge, choose a sasanqua instead: \u003ca href=\"\/products\/camellia-sasanqua\"\u003eCamellia sasanqua\u003c\/a\u003e has finer, twiggier growth, takes regular shearing and tolerates more sun. High Fragrance flowers less when it is kept sheared, so it is better used as a single shrub, a loose informal screen or a pot specimen. The rest of the group is in the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/camellias\"\u003eCamellias\u003c\/a\u003e collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWater and feeding for next year's buds\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis camellia sets the buds for its winter flowers in early summer, once the spring growth has hardened, and they swell from February to April, so late summer is when neglect shows. Let it go thirsty in those months and the buds fall long before they would have opened. In hot weather give it a long, slow soak every few days rather than a daily sprinkle, and keep pine bark spread out to the drip line, held back from the trunk. Feeding is simple: one application of an acid plant fertiliser when flowering ends, and a half dose in late summer to carry the buds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShape it, if at all, straight after flowering, by shortening the longest shoots and thinning crossing wood; the open habit means it rarely needs more than that. Tea scale is the pest to know: yellow blotching on top of a leaf usually means white or brown scale crowded underneath, and horticultural oil applied in the cooler months brings it under control. Where it grows beside an entry, pull off spent blooms every few days through the season, and water at the base rather than over the top so the open flowers do not spot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 300mm up to 400mm, priced from $129.00 to $369.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/camellia-hedges-and-winter-flowers\"\u003ecamellia hedges and winter flowers\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67671059661169,"sku":null,"price":179.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":67671059693937,"sku":null,"price":369.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25L","offer_id":67671059726705,"sku":null,"price":129.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/high-fragrance-camellia-camellia-high-fragrance.jpg?v=1791518452","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/high-fragrance-camellia-camellia-high-fragrance","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}