Helen Beach Camellia

For the most stunning and unique camellia blooms, the Helen Beach Camellia is hard to beat. You will be amazed at the flamboyant flowers, 4 inches across, a banquet of ruffled petals in beautiful pink. The flowers have irregular darker pink stripes and blotches, plus patches of pure white scattered on the petals (described as ‘moiré’ in camellia-speak). Appearing in late winter and into spring, depending on where you live, these blooms will make you the envy of everyone, and fill your garden with festive joy. The bush is vigorous and upright, with an open form, growing to 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide in time. A superb variety for shadier parts of your garden, and it can be grown in a pot if you don’t have suitable acidic soil, or live in a cold zone. Plants in pots can only be left outdoors all winter in zone 9, unless you bury the pot, but best is to bring it into a cool, bright place, where it will flower early with perfect blooms, free of weather damage. This way you can grow it, whatever your zone is.

• Beautiful open blooms with ruffled, undulating petals
• Pink flowers flecked with darker pink and also with white patches
• Vigorous, upright plant with an open form, to 12 feet tall
• Moist, acidic soil is needed for good results, and grow in partial shade
• If in a pot it can be grown in all zones – keep in a bright, cool room in winter

The Helen Beach Camellia is hardy in warmer parts of zone 7, and should be grown in a place with some morning sun and afternoon shade, or light full shade. Full sun in winter and early spring is good too. The soil should be moist, rich, and well-drained, and have a pH value of 5.5 (acidic). If you don’t have suitable soil, grow it in a pot, using potting soil for acid-loving plants. Plants require regular watering, especially during dry summer weather. In zones 7 and 8, bury pot-grown plants in the garden for the winter months. In colder zones bring them into a cool, bright place like a glass porch, once temperatures approach freezing. Use camellia fertilizer in spring and early summer. No pruning is needed, but you can trim lightly after flowering is over, but not at other times. Deer resistant and usually pest and disease-free. Remove any branches that produce unstriped flowers. Yellow variegation on some leaves is normal.