A beautiful plant, my friend and the autumn-flowering Camellia sasanqua grow very well in our Sydney climate, offering evergreen structure and background greenery, as well as beautiful blooms. Once established, they are tough and forgiving. They are particularly useful for creating formal structural elements in the garden, which can provide a distinct contrast to the blowzy, exuberant form of many warm-climate plants. They are very versatile and can be used for high or low hedges or screens; espaliered on walls or over arches; trained as standards; grown in containers; or employed as dense feature shrubs at garden entrances or in mixed shrubberies. They can be pruned to a single trunk and their lower branches removed to give the effect of a small tree. Heights range from 1-4m, even to 5-6 m or more with age in some instances. There are even groundcover versions.
These plants are very adaptable, and will grow in full sun or part shade. In full shade, their growth will become rather straggly and they will not flower very well. They enjoy well-drained, humus-rich, slightly acidic soil (pH 5.5-6) which is moist in summer; a waterlogged soil is very unsuitable. They need to be watered about twice a week in dry spells in their early years; later, they will become resilient enough to survive with little extra watering. However, flowering is more prolific in years with plenty of rain. They appreciate a light mulch, preferably of cow manure, to protect their shallow root-system in spring and summer, as well as to help retain moisture in the soil and to provide a trickle of nutrients through the growing season.
Feeding with a soluble fertiliser every two months from September to May has a very beneficial effect on their growth; or a slow-release granular food can be used in spring instead. Many gardeners believe that feeding with a specialist camelia food has a very beneficial effect on their growth. A light pruning after flowering is usually recommended for denser growth but is not compulsory, except for formal hedges which should be pruned in spring. Thank you @ctrl-alt-nwo
