In mid to late winter, when camellias are at their showiest, I often find myself feeling a little sad that the season is winding down. At the very same time, most people are just beginning to admire them and assume the camellia season has finally arrived. For die-hard camellia lovers like me, the camellia season begins in August.
It’s during this time, when the weather is miserable and the days are long, that I start watching my tea plants.
Most people are still thinking about summer heat, but I’m looking for the first white blooms on my Camellia sinensis. They’re simple flowers — soft white petals surrounding a bright cluster of golden stamens — and they don’t demand attention. But when they begin to open, I know something important is taking place…..
Camellia season has begun.
That surprises people, because when most gardeners think of camellias, they picture January. Maybe February. A beautiful winter shrub that blooms for a few weeks and then quietly returns to being green.
But the season of the camellia is not what most people think.
Here in the coastal South, camellias can bloom from mid-August through mid-April. Not every single plant blooms that entire span, but different varieties flower at different times. When one finishes, another begins. If you choose your varieties carefully, you can enjoy camellia blooms for months instead of just a short winter display.
The season unfolds gradually.
After the tea blooms appear in late summer, Camellia sasanqua begins to flower. Sasanquas typically start in September and carry color through fall and into early winter. While much of the garden is fading from heat and humidity, they are just getting started. Their blooms are usually smaller and softer in form than the classic winter camellias, but they bloom generously and sometimes carry a light fragrance. And the carpet of petals they leave is just amazing. They bring life back into the landscape when it’s easy to assume the show is over. But there are also some fantastic fall-blooming japonica camellias as well. Our own ‘Lindsey’ and ‘Frankie Winn‘ are two great examples of beautiful camellia cultivars that bloom in the fall.
As fall deepens and winter settles in, you will see more and more Camellia japonica and hybrids begin to open. These are the camellias most people recognize — large, layered blooms that look almost porcelain against glossy evergreen leaves. The excitement builds into mid winter where blooming can create a garden frenzy. Beautiful camellias like Colonial Dame, Tama Vino and the popular Pink Perfection. Their range of flower forms — singles, peonies, rose forms, formal doubles — and their rich colors make them a defining feature of Southern winter gardens. March continues to host numerous late-blooming varieties like Royal Velvet, Tudor Baby Variegated, Sea Foam, and Sara Frost.
What makes camellias truly remarkable is not just their beauty, but their timing. Each variety has its own bloom window and its own character. Some are early. Some are mid-season. Some are late. When planted together, they create a natural succession rather than a single dramatic moment. The garden doesn’t stop blooming — it transitions.
And just when gardeners thought camellias fit neatly into that late-summer-to-spring pattern, expectations shifted again. The discovery and wider introduction of Camellia azalea changed how many people think about camellias. Unlike traditional varieties, Camellia azalea blooms in late spring and summer, and in its native habitat, it can flower repeatedly throughout the year. That discovery opened the door to new breeding efforts and summer-blooming hybrids, expanding what we once believed was possible.
So when someone says camellias are winter bloomers, I always smile a little.
Yes, they are beautiful in winter. But their season begins quietly in the last days of summer with tea. It moves through fall with carpets of petals from the sasanquas and other fall camellias, then peaks in winter with the japonicas and hybrids, and finally into spring and summer with Camellia azalea hybrids. Then it starts all over again!
That extended, unfolding display — paired with their evergreen structure and longevity — is what truly earns them the title Queen of Ornamental Plants. Let’s see that with a rose!
The season of the camellia is not just winter. It’s nearly year-round!
