One camellia japonica that comes with clean white flowers and a faster growth rate than most is Pope John XXII. Dark green foliage add excellent contrast to the flowers and this is also an easy camellia to prune.
It can be used as a feature plant in the border, as a hedging plant or use it at the back of the border to add some height.
As a hedge it is best planted at around 2m apart, it will fill in fairly quickly at this distance.
Planting Camellia Pope John XXII
As with all camellias planting is easy.
- Ensure the soil drains well and in heavy clay soils try amending the soil or raising the height of the garden bed.
- Water the plant well before planting, the day before
- Dig a planting hole twice the width of the pot and just little deeper.
- Mix some well composed cow manure and if you have it ‘Leaf Mold’ into the soil that has been removed.
- Adjust the depth of the hole so that the plant will sit at the same depth as it was in the pot.
- Plant your camellia and backfill around.
- Water in with a liquid seaweed fertiliser.
- Mulch around the plant with a good organic compost.
- Water well as the soil dries especially through the frost two summers or long dry spells.
- Fertilise at the end of summer and again in early spring using a general purpose organic fertiliser or a specialist camellia food.