Cleopatra Camellia

I purchased my first plant simply to cover the lonely bare soil of a side yard flower bed but it turned out to be the start of my own little garden. Being that the dirt there was in need of company, having no top soil or mulch to hide its open weakness, I went to the garden center with no real plan just wanting something appealing,nothing too difficult though. The plant of choice; mondo grass. Plant selections stayed pretty uncomplicated in the beginning. The grass has since made a mound of green, for needed texture, to start something interesting. Not knowing that you could pull up plants that you didn't like or redesign your entire landscape if you wanted, caused me to wait for much to long, I could have had a few good trees developed by now. Then I was too busy avoiding yard work. Something my mom did with abandon on weekends, entering the house late in the evening covered in dirt. Her affection for her tulips and rose bushes added very little excitement to our conversations at the time... she tried.



I lived with what I thought was permanent to my little property, bland trees and bushes with a few irises that bordered the back entrance. That is until, I developed an eye for blooms. The last bush that I installed was a Camellia, they have juicy blooms and leaves, that dance on its branches. It's an evergreen with thick generous flowering throughout late autumn. This bush has the elegance wanted in any English garden. Large pure blooms that have an austere quality, great for uplifting the beauty of surrounding plants.

My yard lacked, shall I say, personally before I started gardening. It had a few notable foundation hedges and a tiny front yard, but somehow I knew I had to make it better. There I was, a newbie in the garden department, thinking how hard can this be. That was before one of my rose bushes died because it was on the wrong side of the house. I think, I agonized over plants for days before I landed at the check-out register with another must have garden addition. It wasn't long before I was spending a lot of time in the garden department or in the pages of garden magazines, my favorite Cottage Living. It's my past time. I now find pleasure in craving sculptural trees and English boxwoods.


Camellia sasanqua 'Cleopatra' (Fall Blooming Camellia)part sun/shade height: 15.0 ft width: 8.0 ft water: average zones 7-9 well drained soils Semidouble to peony form, rose pink flowers. Good for use as a hedge. Early season.

The sasanqua is great as a base planting around the home and great for background screens. Under ideal growing conditions, it is not uncommon for a sasanqua to reach almost 15 feet high.