There may be little going on in the garden in winter and early spring, but you’ll be guaranteed a show of colourful blooms when it comes to camellias. With their bright Barbie pink flowers and glossy green leaves, camellias add vibrant colour to the garden when there’s not much else in flower.
But if you’ve enjoyed their showy display and are left with a camellia full of fading blooms, you may be left wondering what to do with camellias after flowering. And the good news is that there’s plenty to be getting on with in springtime when it comes to camellia care or how to prune camellias that will help set your plant up for the following year.
‘While many gardens are just beginning to wake up, camellias are actually finishing their flowering season and shifting focus to new growth,’ says Shelley Davis, flower expert at Flying Flowers. ‘To help your camellias stay healthy throughout the summer, there are a few simple care tips specifically for these flowering shrubs that will ensure they return with beautiful blooms year after year.’
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1. Deadhead faded blooms
There are few flowering shrubs that are as easy-going as how to grow camellias. Well-suited to flower bed ideas when positioned in a sheltered spot, camellias thrive in acidic soil or are equally happy when grown in containers in a peat-free ericaceous compost.
The question of when do camellias bloom, depends on the variety. If you want your camellias to flower in the autumn and winter, pick a camellia sasanqua (like the Camellia sasanqua Cleopatra, £19.99 at Gardening Express) to ensure an abundance of autumn/winter blooms. For late winter and early spring colour, try a camellia japonica (like the Camellia japonica ‘Bonomiana’, from £14.99 at Thompson & Morgan) or camellia x williamsii (like the Camellia × williamsii ‘E.G. Waterhouse’, £24.99 at Crocus).
When it comes to what to do with camellias after flowering, deadheading the faded blooms is the first step. ‘It’s important to clear away any faded or brown flowers that have finished blooming,’ advises Shelley. ‘Beyond just making the plant look better, this helps prevent flower blight, a fungal disease that can cause petals to drop before they’ve even had a chance to open.’
‘To deadhead your camellias safely, you can either gently twist and snap the old flowers off at the base or use a clean pair of secateurs to snip just behind the flower head, being careful not to disturb the fresh growth buds developing right below.’
2. Dispose of fallen flowers
By the time we get to spring, there will no doubt be a pile of dropped and faded flowers on the soil surrounding your camellia plant, whether blown off the plant by strong winds, heavy rain or damaged by frost. Instead of leaving them on the ground, it’s a good idea to gather up and compost all the fallen flowers, provided they show no signs of disease, in which case they should be binned.
3. Prune if needed
Next on the list for what to do once your camellias have finished flowering later in April is pruning. When to prune camellias (whether autumn or spring-flowering varieties) is just after the plant has finished flowering to make sure you don’t remove the new growth that will produce next year’s blooms.
‘April is the ideal month to begin preparing your camellias for their next blooming season,’ says Shelley. ‘Although these shrubs don’t strictly require pruning to produce flowers, they can often grow quite large for their space, so a light trim is a great way to manage their size and maintain a tidy shape if they need cutting back.’
‘When you are cutting the branches back, ensure you are cutting to a node, ideally just above a leaf joint or a bud, as this is the precise spot where your new shoots will eventually emerge,’ advises Shelley.
While a light pruning is good if the plant has grown too large, camellias can take a few years to recover after hard pruning, so don’t expect to see any new flowers for the next couple of years. If you’re in need of new secateurs for the job, the Spear & Jackson Razorsharp Advantage Bypass Secateurs from Amazon are our top budget pick in our best secateurs guide.
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4. Keep well-watered
‘After you’ve finished pruning and deadheading, it’s vital to keep your camellias well-watered through the spring and summer, as this is the critical window when next year’s buds begin to form,’ advises Shelley. ‘If you live in a hard water area, try to use rainwater collected from a garden water butt whenever possible, as higher calcium levels in tap water can interfere with the acidic soil these plants need to thrive.’
Amazon sells a slimline water butt kit for under £40, which can be discreetly tucked into the corner of a small garden.
Strata Amesbury Water Butt With Planter
Alternatively, this pretty water butt double ups as a planter.
5. Apply a layer of mulch
While you may already have mulched to protect your plants over the winter, it’s always worth doing it again come springtime after camellias have flowered. Mulch often gets compacted over time, may have drifted or been blown away over winter or taken into the ground by hungry worms.
‘To help the soil stay moist during the heat of summer, apply a thick layer of mulch, such as garden compost, around the base,’ advises Shelley. Other mulch options include composted leaf-mould, shop-bought ericaceous compost or an acidyfying mulch such as pine needles or pine bark (which help sustain acidity).
Something like RocketGro Organic Magic Mulch can be easily picked up on Amazon and has 100s of 5 star reviews.
6. Boost with fertiliser
‘Alongside plenty of water, April is the best time to give your plants a nutritional boost,’ advises Shelley. ‘For the best results, use an ericaceous fertiliser in borders immediately after the flowering season ends. This provides the specific nutrients needed to support healthy new growth and ensure a successful bud formation for the coming year.’
You can try something like Miracle Gro’s Azelia, Camellia & Rhododendron Concentrated Plant Food, available on Amazon for £7.
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Just because your camellias are coming to the end of their flowering window, doesn’t mean you should forget them. Now is the window to ensure you get even more Barbie-pink blooms next year
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