Camellia is a very popular shrub or small tree and widely planted in gardens. It has large, showy flowers from late winter to early summer, usually in shades of red, pink and white, and some light yellows exist too.

A well-furnished bush can be covered with flowers, opening in sequence, for several months. Even when the flowers fall to the ground, they do not rot right away quickly and can make a carpet of colour. It is an outstanding shrub and deservedly popular.

Imagine the possibility of a sort of camellia that flowers in autumn and into winter if the weather is not too harsh? Such a plant exists and has tantalised gardeners for decades.

The species is Camellia sasanqua, native to the Ryukyu Islands off the south of Japan. Although this plant holds great promise and shows a delicate beauty, it is a challenge to grow and get flowering. It is more tender than the two main groups of camellias that are grown. The first group is Camellia japonica, native of Japan, Korea and China, which used to be the main species in gardens, but some kinds are unreliable about flowering.

Camellia japonica was first housed in glasshouses, as it was considered too tender for outdoors, but it proved to be hardier that thought and was planted outdoors. Still, it often failed to flower if the conditions were not ideal.

To get over this, it was crossed with a hardy species, called Camellia saluensis, from China. The resulting hybrids are known as Williams’ hybrids, after the man who first made the cross, and these excellent varieties have practically taken over from Japonica types, as they are reliable and very floriferous.

But they are still all spring flowering, with a few early exceptions. In Japan, great store is put on the autumn-flowering Camellia sasanqua varieties for their late flowers. It is estimated there are as many as 300 named varieties. The climate of Japan is closer to that of Italy than to Ireland, and these autumn camellias thrive in countries with a hot, dry summer and a mild autumn, places of Mediterranean climate.

Autumn-flowering camellias are sometimes seen for sale here and, though they offer a challenge to grow, are worth a try. They have a better chance in mild areas, and should be planted at a sunny wall to encourage flowering.

In colder places, they can be grown in a big pot in a greenhouse or in the open soil. The plant needs acidic soil, which occurs naturally in many parts of the country, anywhere the hydrangeas take on a blue tinge. But that still leaves large areas of limy soil that are not naturally suitable for this or other camellias, but people go to some trouble to get acid soil and lime-free compost. If grown on limy soil, camellias turn yellow with iron deficiency and grow very poorly.

The autumn camellia benefits from a mulch of rotted leaves and some liquid feeding with an ericaceous feed during the summer months. The branches are lighter in structure, looser in habit, and can be trimmed if too lax. The flowers are very beautiful, jewel-like, smaller than the spring camellias, but sweetly scented and very rewarding.

Varieties that sometimes appear for sale include: ‘Narumigata’ (shown) with scented, single white flowers with pink tinges on the back; ‘Show Girl’ is a pretty pink colour, ‘Jean May’ is a soft pink, semi-double flowers and ‘Crimson King’ is red, scented with single flowers.

Single-flowered kinds are likely to do better, because less energy is needed to form the flowers. They are usually sold in flower around now.

Grow mini-cyclamen

The miniature cyclamen varieties are very useful for some colour at this time and have proved very popular in recent years. These are hybrids of the large-flowered florist’s cyclamen and the hardy outdoor species. The large-flowered kind has long been popular as a house plant, especially at Christmas.

The miniature kinds come into flower much earlier and last longer. They can be used as pot plants or potted into larger containers with other plants. They hate to dry out and equally hate being too wet at the root, which causes rotting. They have a small tuber and can last for more than one year, as long as their water requirements are met.