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Best time to trim camellias


How to prune camellias: and when to prune for more blooms

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(Image credit: Michelle Garrett)

Learning how to prune camellias will maintain their eye-catching beauty for years to come. Camellias are a familiar sight in spring, drawing the eye with their early blooms, stark against their glossy dark leaves.

It's easy to learn how to grow camellias. The flowers range from deep red to white, bright pink to salmon pink and everything in between, so they make a wonderful addition for flower bed ideas. Some have loose open flowers, showing off yellow centers and other have tightly packed double or semi-double flowers in perfect geometric patterns. 

If you have darker corners in your garden, camellias are great shrubs for shade to brighten a shady spot of the yard, but it's important that you maintain them well to keep these evergreen shrubs looking their best.

Camellias are a great choice if you’re thinking about container gardening ideas, and they can also be planted directly in the garden. Their native growing conditions are in part-shady woodland, so they don't like hot, sunny sites and need protection from wind, frost and morning sun that can damage the flower buds after a frost. 

Read on to learn how to prune camellias. 

How to prune camellias to keep them tidy

(Image credit: Michelle Garrett)

You shouldn’t need to prune a young camellia plant until it’s around 4 years old, other than keeping broken or diseased branches in check. It’s best to wait until it is well established with the right growing conditions before you decide whether or not it needs to be pruned. 

When pruning any flowering shrub or plant, ensure that the blade you’re using is sharp and clean. It’s a good idea to sterilize your secateurs if they have been previously used to cut back a diseased plant. 

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Jen Stark, master gardener and founder of Happy DIY Home says: ‘Camellias can benefit from you pruning them every few years to stimulate healthy growth and thin out the more twiggy branches. You should prune them in the late spring months (May or June) to allow sunlight to get to the shrub's interior.’  The exact time of pruning will depend on the hardiness zone where you live.

This late-spring prune to tidy the plant and reinvigorate it will be after the camellia has finished flowering. If you can, check the pruning instructions for your specific variety of camellia before going in with the blade. If you don’t know the variety, take a good look at its natural growth habit and prune accordingly. 

How much to prune

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How much you cut off the branches of your type of camellia depends on the desired effect. 

To encourage more growth and produce a taller, bushier shrub, trim 1 inch (2.5cm) off the ends of the branches. 

To keep the camellia roughly at its existing height and spread, cut up to 3 inches (10cm) off the length of the branches

To reshape a very overgrown camellia you will need to prune it in two stages and sacrifice its flowers for the following season. Start with a drastic prune in late winter or early spring, reducing it by a third to a half of its former size – or more in extreme cases. As new shoots start to appear in the growing season you will prune again to thin out the bushy new growth from the centre of the plant to encourage fewer, but stronger new stems. They are fairly fast growing shrubs, so should soon regain their former size.

How to prune camellias to prevent disease

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According to The American Camellia Society , when pruning camellias it’s important to prune limbs ‘flush to the feeder branches without leaving nubs. These leftover branches could eventually provide host for disease to enter your camellias.’

To help prevent disease and pests, you need to know how to prune camellias to open up the center of the plant. 

‘Thin out some of the branches in the interior of the plant to improve airflow and sunlight penetration,’ says Jen Stark. ‘Look at the inner branches and remove weak or small ones, making sure they're not the main branches in the plant. ’ 

Pol Bishop of Fantastic Gardeners also advises clearing all the stems from the lower 6-10in. (15-25cm), depending on the plant’s size, of the main trunk to prevent any small stems from touching the ground and infecting the plant with diseases. He adds that a fully grown camellia plant will tolerate drastic pruning without any long-term effects.

As for pruning technique, Tammy Sons, owner of Tennessee Wholesale Nursery , says it’s best to cut to a leaf that is pointing in the direction that you want the branch to grow, keeping in mind the overall shape and look of the plant. 

‘You can also choose to remove branches completely that are not growing in the right direction. It’s best to prune a camellia over time – each year cutting back until you reach a shape and size you are happy with,' she adds. 

If you maintain them in this way to keep them looking their best, camellias make a great choice as shrubs for the front of the house to improve its curb appeal.

(Image credit: Michelle Garrett)

When should I prune my camellia?

Camellias can be pruned in late spring, after flowering to promote healthy bushy growth. This only needs doing every few years and shouldn’t be done on a young plant. They will tolerate being pruned at any time of the year, but they start to grow next years’ buds shortly after flowering, so to ensure that you get blooms the following year, you should ensure not to cut these off. 

(Image credit: Michelle Garrett)

Can camellia's be cut back hard?

Camellias can sometimes be cut back hard. They are very tolerant of pruning, and sometimes it is necessary to prune them back hard to rejuvenate a particularly large or scraggly plant. This may also be necessary if you see the number of blooms start to dwindle each year. They can be cut right back to around 3 foot tall if necessary. This will encourage bushier growth, and more flowers. 

What is the best way to prune camellia?

The best way to prune your camellia will depend on the condition that it is in, and its size and age. A young plant, under 4 years old, should not be pruned at all. 

It is best to give camellias a light annual prune, just after they have flowered. Remove any material that looks untidy. If you have a plant that has already become unruly and is in poor shape it can be cut back much harder. 

(Image credit: Crocus)

How far back can you cut a camellia?

Camellias can be cut back quite hard, if necessary, although this might compromise blooms for the following year, it should encourage new, strong growth and plenty of flowers in the future. A mature, large camellia can be cut right back to 3 foot tall if necessary to reset its growth and get it under control. 

Above all, bear in mind that camellias are strong plants. They usually bounce back well, even after a severe pruning – you just might reduce the number of blooms the following season, that's all.

Karen is the houses editor for homesandgardens.com and homes editor for the brand’s sister titles, Period Living and Country Homes & Interiors, and an experienced writer on interiors and gardens. She loves visiting historic houses for Period Living and writing about rural properties for Country Homes & Interiors, and working with photographers to capture all shapes and sizes of properties. Karen began her career as a sub editor at Hi-Fi News and Record Review magazine. Her move to women’s magazines came soon after, in the shape of Living magazine, which covered cookery, fashion, beauty, homes and gardening. From Living Karen moved to Ideal Home magazine, where as deputy chief sub, then chief sub, she started to really take an interest in properties, architecture, interior design and gardening. 

When Should you Prune Camellias?

As a general rule of thumb, camellias, like most flowering shrubs, should be pruned immediately after they are finished blooming. This allows the shrub time to form new growth and flower buds before the next cycle of bloom. For camellia japonica (late winter/spring blooming), this usually means mid- to late spring, and late fall through late spring for fall blooming sasanqua camellias. However, if you are more concerned with shaping your camellia and don’t mind losing some flowers, it won’t harm them to be pruned any time of year. If you enjoy using camellias as cut flowers, you can even prune as you harvest the blooms. And of course, any diseased or dead growth should be removed as soon as you notice it.

Both types of camellia can develop long shoots in summer that can usually be pruned with little loss of flowers, since this type of rapidly growing, thin branch typically doesn't form buds. This video shows what these summer shoots look like. 

Camellias can be pruned using any of the basic pruning cuts. Thinning cuts remove entire sections of branch back to a larger branch, allowing light and air circulation to surrounding branches. Heading cuts remove a portion of the stem at some point between the beginning of the branch and the tip and are used to encourage multiple branches to develop near the cut, making the plant bushier. Pinching, which removes just the new growth at the tip, is usually reserved for very young camellia plants to help shape them.

Terribly overgrown camellias can be renovated in a few years in two steps. The first year, remove lower limbs leaving the top third of the shrub intact. Over the growing season the trunk will sprout new growth. The following year, reduce the crown to the desired height. Fertilize well with an acid-plant fertilizer like HollyTone after pruning to encourage healthy growth. 

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When are camellias pruned? Gardening included

Camellias are one of the most colorful flowering plants. Thanks to their large flowers of very bright colors, they stand out in any garden. In addition, they are able to live for many years if the necessary care is provided, including pruning. But, Do you know when camellias are pruned?

If you want to know what types of pruning are available for camellias, when to do them, and how to get the most out of your plant, here are the keys.

Index

Why are camellias pruned?

If you have ever seen a camellia, you know that it is a beautiful shrub. Not only that, but its bloom is one of the most beautiful. And thinking about cutting branches or even flowers is something unthinkable.

But the truth is that pruning has many reasons to exist. With it you can get:

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These are just some of the benefits of camellia pruning and reasons why it should not be neglected. It's okay if you don't do it the first year, because it's a way for him to adjust to his new home, but it's convenient that you do it from the second year.

When are camellias pruned?

The first thing we will answer you is when the camellias are pruned. It's easy because The best time for this is winter. Not in the most severe winter, but at the end of it, when spring comes and frosts are impossible. This way you can enhance its flowering.

Now, as we will see a little later, you should know that there are several types of cutting, which means that depending on where you live and the type of haircut you are going to have, you will have to choose one or another moment. We will explain it to you below.

Trims

As you know, most plants, trees and shrubs have different types of pruning that cause the plant to change. But each of them has a regular time to perform. Thus, we have:

Cleaning pruning

In this case, looking for camellia is as healthy as possible and improves flowering.

What has been done? You should cut branches that are completely dry, those that are sick and cannot recover, those that are crossing over, or those that are bad. As well as offspring and sprouts coming out of the soil itself.

When is it produced? need to take advantage of the winter to spend it, but always avoiding frost.

Form cut

This is characterized by the fact that it is a more common cut for to form camellia . To do this, you have to choose a shape (in a fan, accordion, round ...) and germinate those sprouts that are outside the silhouette that we want to achieve.

When done? During the year. Since the camellia is a plant that grows well, you will have to make sure that it does not lose its shape throughout the year. So you have to cut often.

Blooming pruning

Also called flower thinning. Pruning technique to enhance flowering. It consists of cutting the smallest flower buds, always prioritizing the size of the flowers over the number of them.

This is done at the moment when the buds begin to form, but if it is already in full bloom, you should not touch it. This does not mean that you will be able to remove any new cocoons it may create later.

How to prune camellias step by step

Let's move on to the practical part, that is, learn how camellias are cut. To do this, you need to follow several steps. These are:

Have tools handy

Not that you need a lot, but you should have some gloves and a pruner.

The latter must be disinfected before cutting branches or flowers to prevent infection from another plant that may be diseased.

We therefore recommend that you use alcohol or something similar to disinfect before cutting and also after you are done.

Pruning camellias according to cleaning pruning

If you are going to prune for cleaning, you must make sure that which branches you have to cut.

To begin with, we recommend doing this with a dummy. Remove them as low as possible. Also shoots that come out of the ground.

Next it's time for the branches. Start with those that you see dry or sick. Once you eliminate them, you should continue with those that intersect or have a slightly straight shape. Thus, you not only clean, but also saturate with oxygen and give space to the plant.

Camellia trimming in progress

In case you want to trim information, you must be clear about the design you are going to give. For example, if you want it to look like a ball, you will have to remove all the shoots that come out of this formation.

We also recommend that be cut back as this will make Camellia more dense and look much better. Also, believe it or not, it will cause new shoots to appear.

Prune for more blooms

In case of thinning the flower most importantly, when it sets buds, leave only one or two on each branch. This way he will have more power to pull them forward and the flowers will be bigger.

Yes, there are some specimens of camellias that thin out themselves, that is, they themselves pull out buds before flowering, in order to leave only those that are able to stretch forward. If your plant is like this, you may want to avoid this type of pruning because if you do this as well, you may run out of flowers.

In general, we can tell you that camellias are very resistant to pruning and that if you follow the recommendations, you will not have any problems with this. However, if you have any doubts about when to prune camellias or care for them in general, you can always contact us and we will try to answer you as soon as possible.


Camellia pruning: instructions and expert advice

It can be very helpful to prune camellias to keep their shape and growth. We'll show you everything you need to know about proper camellia pruning.

Camellias should be pruned from time to time.

Camellia ( Camellia ) is a very slow growing plant. That's why many gardeners are wondering: should you prune your camellia at all? As is often the case, the correct answer to this question depends on the cause of the cut. We explain at what time and for what reason it is necessary to cut the camellia and how best to do it.

Contents


Pruning camellias: when is the best time?

The best time to prune camellias is from May to July. This is when the plants are about to enter their greatest growth phase and the flowering period is over. In general, faded flowers can be cut even during flowering.

Pruning after flowering

Immediately after flowering, it makes sense to remove wilted flowers, which are usually still attached. Cutting the flower directly stimulates your camellia to form new buds. Pruning also promotes branching, so you can hope for a more lush crown.

Pruning can be done after the flowers have withered.

When pruning camellias, several types of pruning must be distinguished. The procedure also varies slightly depending on the case. However, the following applies to all trimmings: less is more. We give a brief description of each cut and explain how to proceed.

Maintenance pruning

Maintenance pruning should generally be applied to diseased camellia specimens to rid them of diseased or dead plant parts. However, only infected parts of the plant should be removed. Maintenance pruning also includes thinning out old plants. This means removing leafless and weaker shoots inside the crown. This helps to compact the crown and direct energy to young shoots.

Diseased camellia flowers should be removed.

Shaping pruning, unlike maintenance pruning, is more of a cosmetic nature. Here, too, lush shoots must first be available so that moderate pruning can be carried out. During training pruning, only individual tips of the shoots that protrude from the general appearance of the plant are removed. Often the camellia is cut into a slight V-shape so that it tapers towards the base of the stem. An extensive topiary is hardly possible due to slow growth and a rare crown.

Topiary with camellia is hardly possible.

How to prune properly

Camellias are naturally very well organized, so pruning is not difficult. Cuts along the shoot can be made at any node, because from these areas the camellia sprouts again. However, care must be taken to ensure that your camellia does not lose too much volume at once, as it is not able to quickly compensate for this.

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