Shishi Gashira Camellia

Ah, sasanqua Camellias are the unheralded aristocrats of the garden world! They are in that rare class of flowers that bloom in the darkest days of winter, and they bloom with complete abandon! If you are lucky enough to live where they love, though, Shishi Gashira Camellia (Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira') will reward you with pink eye candy from Halloween through Christmas - or longer!

But Shishi Gashira has an elegant surprise by having a unique weeping form that just adds to the romantic quality of this beautiful shrub! This weeping broad-leaf evergreen grows wider than it is tall, so it fills in your bare spaces quickly and well. Forming dense 4-5 foot tall gleaming specimens at a medium-growth rate all growing season.

Once fall and winter arrive, Shishi Gashira becomes covered in a profusion of semi-double flowers in an eye-catching hot pink with a sunny yellow central eye - the perfect foil for gray winter days! The flowers are classic cutting flowers, have a spicy sweet fragrance, and a dozen blooms floated in a large bowl of water will make an unforgettable centerpiece for the holidays.

Unfortunately, they shudder at truly cold winters, so they reserve their unparalleled beauty for mild winter gardens throughout USDA growing zones 7 to 10. But these smaller-sized flowering shrubs do fantastic in seasonal plants and planters that can be brought indoors or into greenhouses for the winters in growing zones 6 and lower.

Planting and Application:

This excellent flowering shrub is so versatile, too! Use Shishi Gashira in foundation plantings where its evergreen leaves will hide unsightly edges, nosy neighbors, or as year-round backdrops. It grows low enough to tuck under windows without blocking the view!

Mass several of them under tall trees or at the edge of the property to draw the eye and add a late-season pop of color to mixed shrub borders. The birds and pollinators will adore these giving flowering ornamentals!

These would look stunning as a hedge and screening plant at your fence line, create privacy around outdoor garden rooms, or hide utilitarian corners of your landscape. Plant them 5 to 7 feet apart on center, measuring from the center of one to the center of the next. They will grow together and create a lovely, solid screen.

Use them singly as a natural sculpture by the pool or as a focal point in an Asian-inspired garden! For apartment or condo living, this smaller Camellia can be kept as the perfect container plant! Plant one or more in matching planters for years of enjoyment on the patio. What a nice, easy way to screen your seating area! Their branches will trail off of rocks and walls and over the edges of large containers.

• Beautiful Double Hot Pink Flowers in the Winter
• Mild Spicy Sweet Fragrance
• Pollinator Friendly & Cut Flower Bouquets
• Unique Weeping Broad-Leaf Evergreen Foliage
• Great in Containers, Borders & Flower Beds, Backdrops & Specimens

#ProPlantTips for Care:

These shrubs may love the heat of the Southern US but they appreciate afternoon shade or all day part sun best. Camellias are adapted to many soil types but prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH of 5 to 6.5. Choose a location that drains well. If poor drainage is suspected, elevate your planting by mounding up. Bring in additional soil to a height of 18 inches and plant directly in that mound. Amend the soil with a few handfuls of acidic pine needles.

Camellias are shallow-rooted, so they appreciate mulched beds to protect their roots from heat and drying out. Spread a 3 to 4-inch layer of mulch to keep the roots cool and the surface moisture consistent. Apply the mulch all the way out to 3 feet away from the plant's trunk.

Fertilize twice a year with Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Premium and Organic Fertilizer in the late winter and early summer. For container growing choose a potting mix recommended for Azaleas, Camellias, and Rhododendrons. Because it is so adapted to container growing, it can be grown outside of its recommended zones and moved to protection from extreme winter cold or hot dry summer days, when needed.

Weeping Camellias require little pruning but it is best done right after the flower. Clean out dead leaves after flowering and prune out interior dead limbs and twiggy growth after flowering in early spring, or prune to shape at any time during the year.

• Grow in Part Shade or Afternoon Shade
• Easy to Grow in Acidic, Well-Drained Soils
• Displays Drought Tolerance Once Established
• Prune After Flowering
• Low Maintenance & Widely Adapted

This will truly be a welcome addition to our garden, so order your weeping Shishi Gashira Camellia shrubs at Nature Hills today!