The common camellia (C. japonica) begins as a shrub but usually ends up as a tree, 15 to 25 feet high and wide. So it takes up a lot of space--not exactly the perfect choice for planting under eaves and windows or between the sidewalk and curb. A mature sasanqua is smaller. Upright selections can grow 10 to 12 feet high and wide.

Mounding types, popularly called dwarf sasanquas, grow only 2 to 5 feet tall and wide. Therefore, when you plant one of these, you won't have to worry that your house with a camellia out front will morph into a camellia with a house in back.

Depending on the selection and where you live, sasanquas can bloom any time from late summer through autumn and into winter. Flowers may be single, semidouble, or double, usually with a central burst of bright yellow stamens. Some exude a pleasant tea scent--not surprising, as sasanqua is closely related to the tea plant.

Colors range from cherry red to rose to shell pink to fairest white. Individual flowers live but a short time, shattering into a storm of falling petals. Abundant new flowers soon replace them, though, and the carpet of petals at the foot of the shrubs only adds to the spectacle.

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