Blooms for the gloom

Camellias put colour in the year’s darkest months – and here are the best places to admire them

Even their most ardent admirers admit that camellias are not quite the perfect plant. They lack fragrance, and on some varieties the flowers hang around looking brown and miserable after they’ve died. Camellias must have acid soil (they hate chalky, alkaline conditions) and if you neglect to water them in summer, when the flower buds are forming, you’ll get lots of leaf and no blooms six months later.

But, for all their faults, most of us adore camellias and are prepared to go the extra mile for them. During the darkest, gloomiest days of winter the flowers provide a gorgeous extravaganza of white, cream, pink, red or yellow, all set off by glamorously glossy leaves. Once thought to be too tender to grow outdoors, they are actually totally hardy as long as you get the conditions right, and they are long-lasting plants: the lifespan of a camellia is many decades. And if your soil isn’t right for them, they wil l quite happily grow in large containers filled with ericaceous compost.

Some camellias start flowering in autumn, others can bloom well into April, but the peak time for them is February and March. If you want to see these splendid plants at their flamboyant best, here are some of the gardens around the country that specialise in camellias.

The mild, damp climate of the West Country is perfect for camel lias, and Mount Edgcumbe in Cornwall is home to the National Camellia Collection, with more than 1,000 varieties. There’s a trail taking you through the 30 acres of the collection, which is open all year; entry is free. See mountedgcumbe.gov.uk.

Nymans in West Sussex features a number of flowering camellias from the C. sans aqua group, so you’ll see camellias in bloom here right through to April. Entry £12.60. See nationaltrust.org.uk.

Spectacular Hever Castle in Kent, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, has a good display of camellias which start flowering with the first daffodils in February. Entry from £13.70, see hevercastle.co.uk.

London’s Kew Gardens has a large planting of camellias between the Victoria Gate and the Lion Gate, which are often in flower at this time of year. Entry from £ 11. 5 0 , visit kew.org. Just a few miles away is Chiswick House, where 33 va r iet ies of camellias, some of them very rare, are housed in a magnificent 18th-century glasshouse. Chiswick House’s popular Camellia Show, which includes plant sales, runs from 22 February to 25 March (open daily except Friday, entrance free). see chiswickhouseandgardens.org.uk.

At Muncaster Castle in Cumbria the 77-acre garden is at its

A glorious display of camellias at Hever Castle loveliest in spring, when the camellias mingle with wild daffodils and early magnolias. Stout shoes are a must for this wild, craggy place, open from 10 February. Entry from £5.95, visit muncaster.co.uk.

Looking a bit further ahead, Antony Woodland Garden in Cornwall has the National Collection of Camellia japonica, with more than 600 varieties of camellia growing in an idyllic setting. See an tony woodlandgarden.com. The garden –£6 entry – reopens on 1 March, as does Trewithen, which has over 200 varieties of camel l ia, many grown from seed collected in China in the early 20th century. This is where the first pink camellia ‘Donation’ – now Britain’s most popular camellia – was succesfully grown. Entry £ 8.50, see trewithengardens.co.uk.

At East Bergholt Place in Suffolk, a much- admired 20acre garden in the Stour Valley, there is an interesting collection of camellias. Open from 1 March, entry £ 6, visit place forplants.co.uk.

Another superb plot, Benmore Botanic Garden on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll has a camellia collection that in spring provides a contrast to the explosion of colour from the hundreds of species of rhododendrons. Open from 1 March, entry £6.50. See rbge.org.uk.

Set in a beautiful valley in north Devon, 20- acre Marwood Hill Gardens has a massed display of camellias, many of which carry on flowering into April when they complement the cherries, magnolias and rhododendrons in bloom then. The gardens open on 11 March, entry £ 7. Visit marwoodhillgarden.co.uk.

Camellias at Antony Woodland Garden in Cornwall