Nuccio's Bella Rossa Camellia

Provide well drained soil, rich in organic matter. Keep roots cool with a thick layer of mulch. Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Requires less water once established. Prune to shape and feed with an acid fertilizer after flowering. Pruning time: spring after flowering.

Be sure to keep this beauty in viewing distance in patio beds, containers or decorating the foundation plantings around your house. Great as an espalier to cover walls. If set back in a woodland setting, plant in mass and complement with low growing perennials. A wonderful specimen in Asian gardens and believed to bring wealth if planted at the entrance to your home, as are other red flowering plants.

The outstanding, formal blooms on this Camellia pair best with other garden classics such as Boxwood hedges, Juniper topiaries from Monrovia's Italianate Collection, as well as fragrant Gardenias. To stay true to its Asian heritage, plant with Azalea, Heavenly Bamboo, Japanese Maple, Fern, Dogwood and Rhododendron. For those shady beds close to your outdoor patios, create a patriotic garden with this beautiful red Camellia by adding white and blue blooming plants such as Astilbe, Hydrangea, Flax Lily and Clematis.

Camellias are native to eastern and southern Asia. C. japonica was imported into the Philippines but is native to China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The genus Camellia was named by Carolus Linnaeus who named it for a Jesuit missionary Georg Kamel, who cultivated an important garden of local medicinal plants on the Philippine Island of Luzon in the 17th century. With more than 100 new Camellia varieties to their credit, Nuccio's Nurseries in California introduced Nuccio's Bella Rossa in 2000. Red camellias are a symbol of wealth and white Camellias signify loveliness. Camellias represent longevity and faithfulness and have long been a primary floral component in Asian weddings.