Nuccio's Pearl Camellia

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Provide well drained soil, rich in organic matter. Feed with an acid fertilizer after bloom. Keep roots cool with a thick layer of mulch. Pruning time: winter after flowering.

Use in a protected place in the garden, such as an east facing entryway, and be rewarded with handsome evergreen foliage and elegant winter blooms. Both the blooms and foliage are fine additions to indoor winter cut flower arrangements. Dress up a wall or garage as a shrub or train as an espalier for a formal look. Beautiful as a foundation plant, in a container or as part of a Zen tranquility garden.

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 Hydrangea, Azalea, Heavenly Bamboo, Japanese Maple, Dogwood and Lily of the Valley.

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. Nuccio's Pearl was a chance seedling that originated at Nuccio's Nurseries in Altadena, California in 1973. 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.