April Dawn Camellia

If you long for something that flowers in middle of winter, then camellias are just what you need and April Dawn, a Camellia japonica, is one of the prettiest.

This camellia blooms mid to late in the season when cool nights are still holding back most spring flowering shrubs. The luxurious dark green leaves maintain their glossy shine throughout winter and by late winter the buds for blooms swell. Then the beautiful double flowers erupt. The color varies slightly from white through pink, all tinged with just a few streaks of dark pink making this late season camellia the perfect antidote to the late winter blues.

Being a late blooming camellia there is less danger that those late frosts will injure the blooms and you will have plenty of blooms to float in a bowl of water to give a pretty early spring table decoration.

As with all camellias, April Dawn prefers part sun where the white blooms stand out beautifully, but will grow well in a sunny position, if given some afternoon shade. It also responds well to pruning. Without pruning, the pyramid shaped shrub will get to 8-10 feet high and about 5 foot wide at maturity.

April Dawn camellia is a great shrub to give an area privacy, or partner the camellia with other southern favorites such as gardenia shrubs for a classic look in the landscape.