Overview

Introduce a touch of elegance and vibrant color to your garden with the exceptional King’s Ransom Camellia live plant. This captivating evergreen shrub, belonging to the Camellia Japonica species, is celebrated for its abundant, peony-like soft-pink blooms that emerge during the cooler months of winter and extend into mid-spring. The striking flowers are beautifully contrasted by lush, dark green evergreen leaves, ensuring year-round visual interest. The King’s Ransom Camellia live plant offers an upright growing habit, making it a versatile choice for various landscape applications. Whether you’re looking to fill an empty space between trees, create a stunning solitary focal point, or establish a dense, evergreen privacy hedge, this plant delivers both beauty and functionality. Its ability to provide brilliant color when most other plants are dormant makes it an invaluable addition to any garden.

The ‘King’s Ransom’ variety is particularly prized for its resilience and its ability to thrive in a range of garden settings. Its robust nature and stunning floral display make it a favorite among garden enthusiasts. This Camellia Japonica shrub is not only visually appealing but also relatively low maintenance once established, offering a rewarding gardening experience. The deep green foliage provides a consistent backdrop throughout the year, enhancing the garden’s structure and appeal even when not in bloom. If you appreciate the charm of peonies but desire a plant that performs in colder seasons, the King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is an excellent choice, bringing a sophisticated and enduring beauty to your outdoor spaces.

Key Benefits

The King’s Ransom Camellia live plant offers a multitude of benefits that make it a standout choice for any garden. Its unique characteristics contribute to its appeal and ease of integration into diverse landscapes.

• Extended Bloom Season: Enjoy stunning, peony-like soft pink camellia flowers from late winter through early spring, providing much-needed color during colder months when other plants are dormant. This prolonged flowering period ensures your garden remains vibrant and attractive.
• Evergreen Foliage: The luscious dark green leaves remain on the plant all year, offering continuous greenery and contributing to a structured and appealing garden even outside of its blooming season. This evergreen quality is perfect for year-round privacy.
• Versatile Landscape Use: With its upright growth habit, this evergreen camellia is highly adaptable. It can be grown as a striking solitary specimen, incorporated into groupings, used to create beautiful hedges for privacy, or even trained as an espalier against a wall.
• Low Maintenance: Once established, the King’s Ransom Camellia live plant requires minimal care, making it an excellent choice for gardeners seeking high impact with less effort. It’s resistant to deer and tolerates drought once mature.
• Attracts Visual Attention: The large, semi-double to double soft pink flowers, measuring 3-4 inches, create a dramatic visual impact, making this plant a focal point in any garden setting. Its beauty draws the eye and enhances curb appeal.
• Adaptable to Various Settings: Suitable for camellia gardens, white or pink theme gardens, Asian gardens, cottage gardens, cut flower gardens, and woodland borders. It can also be grown in containers in appropriate zones.
• Winter Blooming Camellia: Provides essential beauty and interest during the often drab winter landscape, ensuring your garden still has life and color when many other plants are dormant.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your King’s Ransom Camellia live plant involves understanding its specific needs to ensure robust growth and abundant blooms. This Camellia Japonica shrub thrives in particular conditions. For optimal health and flowering, it prefers morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun throughout the day. Direct afternoon sun, especially in warmer climates, can scorch the leaves and stress the plant. Ensuring the right light exposure is crucial for the development of its beautiful soft pink camellia flowers.

When it comes to watering, the evergreen camellia prefers average moisture but becomes more drought-tolerant once established. The key is well-drained, moist soil. Constantly soggy soil is an intolerance for this plant and can lead to root rot. Amend heavy clay soils or very sandy soils to improve drainage and fertility. A slightly acidic soil pH, between 5.0 and 6.5, is ideal. Fertilize in late winter or early spring with a slow-release, acid-loving plant fertilizer before new growth begins. Pruning is best done after flowering to shape the plant and remove any dead or crossing branches. The winter blooming camellia is hardy in USDA Zones 7a-10b, potentially extending to zone 6 with adequate protection.

Protecting your King’s Ransom Camellia live plant from extreme temperatures is important. While it’s relatively cold and heat tolerant once established, young plants may benefit from protection during severe freezes or intense heatwaves. Mulching around the base of the plant helps to retain soil moisture, regulate soil temperature, and suppress weeds. Watch out for common pests like scale insects or aphids, and treat with horticultural oil or insecticidal soap if necessary. With proper care, your King’s Ransom Camellia live plant will become a cherished and long-lasting feature in your garden, rewarding you with its stunning winter and spring display.

Size & Details

The King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is typically shipped in a 4-inch nursery pot, providing a healthy start for your garden. This Camellia Japonica shrub exhibits an upright habit of growth, maturing to an impressive height of about 8 to 12 feet and a width of 6 to 8 feet. Its growth rate is moderate, allowing you to enjoy its development over time. When planting for a solid hedge, space plants approximately 5 feet apart; for individual specimens with space between them, allow about 12 feet. The large soft pink camellia blooms measure 3-4 inches across and are semi-double to double in form, appearing from late winter to early spring.

This evergreen camellia is recognized for its dark green foliage, which provides year-round visual appeal. It is a non-fragrant variety, focusing its appeal on its visual beauty. The plant is resistant to deer, drought (once established), heat, and humidity, making it a robust choice for various climates within its USDA Plant Hardiness Zones of 7a-10b. It is intolerant of direct afternoon sun and constantly soggy soil. The mature size allows it to be used as a substantial shrub or even trained as a small, attractive evergreen tree with lower branches removed. This King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is a fantastic addition for creating impactful landscape designs.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this King’s Ransom Camellia live plant get? A: The King’s Ransom Camellia live plant typically grows to a mature height of 8 to 12 feet and a width of 6 to 8 feet, forming a substantial evergreen shrub or small tree.
• Q: What size pot does the King’s Ransom Camellia live plant come in? A: This particular King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is supplied in a 4-inch nursery pot, ready for planting upon arrival.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: The King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is primarily an outdoor plant, ideal for garden landscapes. However, it can be grown in containers and brought indoors during winter in zones colder than 7a.
• Q: How much sunlight does the evergreen camellia need? A: This evergreen camellia thrives in morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun all day. It should be protected from direct, intense afternoon sun.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, once established, the King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is considered low maintenance. It requires well-drained, moist soil and appropriate sunlight, but is resistant to many common issues.
• Q: What condition will the soft pink camellia arrive in? A: Your King’s Ransom Camellia live plant is carefully packed to arrive healthy and green, ready to be transplanted into its new home.
• Q: When is the best time to plant this winter blooming camellia? A: The optimal time for planting most camellias is in mid to late spring after the danger of hard frost has passed, or in summer and early fall, ensuring adequate establishment before winter.
• Q: Will the King’s Ransom Camellia live plant survive winter in my zone? A: This camellia is hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7a-10b. If you are in zone 6, it may require winter protection.
• Q: Can I use this Camellia Japonica shrub for a privacy hedge? A: Absolutely! With its upright growth habit and evergreen foliage, the Camellia Japonica shrub is an excellent choice for creating a dense and beautiful privacy hedge.
• Q: What type of soil does this camellia prefer? A: It prefers well-drained, moist soil types such as amended clay, loam, sand, or silt, with an acidic pH between 5.0 and 6.5.