Your Garden Questions Answered – Sasanqua Camellias
Episode: #8 19/05/07
Presenter: Melissa King
Every season has its stand out plants and at this time of year it is all about the Sasanqua camellia.
The sasanquas are the first camellias to grace our gardens and come in all shades of pink, white and red. They tend to have smaller, pointier leaves and more vigorous growth than the winter-spring flowering Japonica’s; plus they are hardier to the sun. They thrive in areas like Melbourne with the hot summers. Plus they are a lot more dry tolerant than you might think.
Melissa likes the subtle charms of the sasanquas and Paradise Blush (Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’) sums up everything I love about these plants. It has small soft pink semi double flowers and lots of them.
If you give it time to fill out it makes the perfect hedge. Its evergreen so provides a lovely dense screen. You only need clip it back once a year in spring, with another quick tidy up after its finished flowering.
‘Setsugkka’(Camellia sasanqua ‘Setsugekka’) makes another outstanding hedge that can be easily kept at about 1-2 metres tall, with delicate single white flowers that have a sunny yellow centre. It is incredibly elegant.
Sasanquas also make really fine standards and many of them have lovely weeping branches. Of course standards are great in big pots - so if you have a sunny spot on the balcony or patio they are a perfect choice.
That same relaxed whip like growth habit also lends itself to espaliering along a fence or wall.
‘Marge Miller’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Marge Miller’) is tailor-made for pots, with its compact habit, showy pink flowers and pendulous branches – and it makes a great groundcover too - cascading down an embankment, rockery or wall. It is not as sun hardy as other sasanquas, but what a gem.
Classic beauty never fades and ‘Asakura’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Asakura’) is proof of that. It has large, semi-double white flowers that have the slightest blush to the petal edge and bud. During April and May the plant is covered in masses of showy flowers, great for hedging or as a container plant for the balcony.
At the brighter end of the scale is ‘Hiryu’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Hiryu’) with large cerise, single to semi-double flowers. It is a hot colour and it likes it hot. You will also love the only red-flowered sasanqua, Yuletide, with festive flowers.
‘Sweet Jane’ (Camellia japonica x transokoensis ‘Sweet Jane’) displays rose pink buds that open into pretty white blooms, blushed with soft pink. It is a hybrid, it flowers for so long that it joins the sasanquas at the beginning of the season and finishes with the last of the camellias in spring – that is three months of colour.
It is actually best to plant them around flowering time in autumn and winter, that way you get maximum root development before summer hits. When it comes to feeding, you footy fans will remember this. They need food just twice a year. Once at the beginning of the footy season and again around grand final time and as far as pruning goes, just wait until after they have finished flowering so you don’t sacrifice your blooms.
Presenter: Melissa King
Every season has its stand out plants and at this time of year it is all about the Sasanqua camellia.
The sasanquas are the first camellias to grace our gardens and come in all shades of pink, white and red. They tend to have smaller, pointier leaves and more vigorous growth than the winter-spring flowering Japonica’s; plus they are hardier to the sun. They thrive in areas like Melbourne with the hot summers. Plus they are a lot more dry tolerant than you might think.
Melissa likes the subtle charms of the sasanquas and Paradise Blush (Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’) sums up everything I love about these plants. It has small soft pink semi double flowers and lots of them.
If you give it time to fill out it makes the perfect hedge. Its evergreen so provides a lovely dense screen. You only need clip it back once a year in spring, with another quick tidy up after its finished flowering.
‘Setsugkka’(Camellia sasanqua ‘Setsugekka’) makes another outstanding hedge that can be easily kept at about 1-2 metres tall, with delicate single white flowers that have a sunny yellow centre. It is incredibly elegant.
Sasanquas also make really fine standards and many of them have lovely weeping branches. Of course standards are great in big pots - so if you have a sunny spot on the balcony or patio they are a perfect choice.
That same relaxed whip like growth habit also lends itself to espaliering along a fence or wall.
‘Marge Miller’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Marge Miller’) is tailor-made for pots, with its compact habit, showy pink flowers and pendulous branches – and it makes a great groundcover too - cascading down an embankment, rockery or wall. It is not as sun hardy as other sasanquas, but what a gem.
Classic beauty never fades and ‘Asakura’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Asakura’) is proof of that. It has large, semi-double white flowers that have the slightest blush to the petal edge and bud. During April and May the plant is covered in masses of showy flowers, great for hedging or as a container plant for the balcony.
At the brighter end of the scale is ‘Hiryu’ (Camellia sasanqua ‘Hiryu’) with large cerise, single to semi-double flowers. It is a hot colour and it likes it hot. You will also love the only red-flowered sasanqua, Yuletide, with festive flowers.
‘Sweet Jane’ (Camellia japonica x transokoensis ‘Sweet Jane’) displays rose pink buds that open into pretty white blooms, blushed with soft pink. It is a hybrid, it flowers for so long that it joins the sasanquas at the beginning of the season and finishes with the last of the camellias in spring – that is three months of colour.
It is actually best to plant them around flowering time in autumn and winter, that way you get maximum root development before summer hits. When it comes to feeding, you footy fans will remember this. They need food just twice a year. Once at the beginning of the footy season and again around grand final time and as far as pruning goes, just wait until after they have finished flowering so you don’t sacrifice your blooms.
AS SEEN ON 
