Shishi Gashira Camellia
Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira'
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- Plant Benefits
- A versatile performer displaying profuse, hot pink, semi-double blooms with golden yellow stamens in the center and glossy, dark green foliage. Flowers are perfect for cutting. Excellent choice for a colorful low hedge, espalier or high profile groundcover. Early to mid season bloomer. Evergreen.
- Botanical Pronunciation:
- kuh-MEE-lee-a suh-SAN-kwuh
- Key feature:
- Fall Flowering
- Plant types:
- Shrub, Camellia
- Garden styles:
- Asian/Zen, Cottage
- Deciduous/evergreen:
- Evergreen
- Cold hardiness zones:
- 7 - 10
- Light needs:
- Filtered sun
- Sunset climate zones:
- 4 - 9, 12, 14 - 24, 26 - 31
- Water Needs:
- Water regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry.
- Average landscape size:
- Moderate growing 4 to 5 ft. tall, 6 to 8 ft. wide.
- Growth rate:
- Moderate
- Growth habit:
- Spreading
- Flower attributes:
- Flowers for Cutting, Showy Flowers
- Special features:
- Waterwise
- Landscape uses:
- Border, Container, Espalier, Mass Planting, Woodland Garden
- Flower color:
- Pink
- Blooms:
- Fall through winter
- Foliage color:
- Dark Green
- Item no.:
- 2199
- Care Information
- 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: winter after flowering.
- Design Ideas
- This low and wide spreader boasts hot pink flowers and is ideal for raised planters in city gardens. Allow its unique weeping form to create the background for a romantic garden setting, or use it as a front-of-the-border feature. Excellent up against the house to cover foundations and to tuck neatly beneath windows. For a colorful effect during the dull days of winter, mass several under very large tree canopies with filtered shade. Equally at home as a single specimen around water gardens and pools, where the pendulous branches may trail off boulders and falling petals may float upon the still water.
- Companion Plants
- The spreading habit makes this a great groundcover paired with blooming shrubs like Lily of the Valley, Hydrangea, Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel. For an Asian theme, include Japanese Maple, Peony, Azalea, and Asiatic Lily. If trained into a topiary form, include other formal garden standouts like Boxwood, Gardenia and Spiral topiaries.
- History
- Sometimes referred to as Christmas Camellias, the sasanqua varieties of Camellia are native to the evergreen, coastal forests of southern Japan. It was introduced by Dutch traders into Europe in 1869. Shishi Gashira originated in Ikeda City, Japan. The Japanese use the leaves of sasanqua to make tea, and the seeds are pressed into tea seed oil for use as a lubricant and in cooking and cosmetics.
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