The Pearl Maxwell Camellia, otherwise known as the Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ or How to Grow Camellias, How to Care for Camellias, Landscaping with Camellias (Camellia Sasanqua), is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its dark green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Pearl Maxwell Camellia is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Pearl Maxwell Camellia Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The fundamental caring guidelines for every Pearl Maxwell Camellia can be summed up into the following:
- Water: The Pearl Maxwell Camellia needs soil that is constantly moist through regular watering.
- Light: Keep your Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ in an environment where it can receive filtered sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Pearl Maxwell Camellia in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, loam, and clay.
And as with many other plants, these are the only three care factors you need to remember to make sure your Pearl Maxwell Camellia is, for the most part, healthy and well to survive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia belongs to the Theaceae family, the genus Camellia and the species Sasanqua, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ (kuh-MEE-lee-uh juh-PON-ih-kuh).
As with other Camellia’s, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Pearl Maxwell Camellia is a plant native to the Japan.
You might be wondering why your Pearl Maxwell Camellia’s native region is important. Well, if you know where your plant originally came from, you’ll know which environment conditions it prefers, and with it, knowledge on how to replicate it at home.
With this in mind, the Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 7 – 8 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 6b, 6a, 7a, 7b, 8b, 8a, 9b, 9a and the ideal climate zone is between 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But what exactly does this mean for your Pearl Maxwell Camellia? How large a pot should you consider, how tall, how wide can it get? Let’s jump in…
The Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ can grow up to 2′ – 12′ (60cm – 3.6m) in 2′ – 12′ (60cm – 3.6m).
Water
In terms of watering, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ needs soil that is constantly moist through regular watering.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Pearl Maxwell Camellia in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Pearl Maxwell Camellia then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Pearl Maxwell Camellia needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, loam, and clay.
This is why most experts agree that the Pearl Maxwell Camellia requires soil with clay, high organic matter, loam (silt), and sand, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably neutral to acid soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia requires filtered sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in shade, or partial sun to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia will be present year round in your garden.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
You can expect your Pearl Maxwell Camellia to flower around the fall, winter and in the spring months from October to December (fall), from January to March (winter) and from April to June (spring).
In particular, this shrub is well known for its flowers for cutting and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Pearl Maxwell Camellia produces some beautiful pink, or pink, cream/tanvariegated,gold/yellow,red/burgundy, and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Pearl Maxwell Camellia have a beautiful dark green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a alternate organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ to be around (1-3 inches) in size.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Pearl Maxwell Camellia? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Camellia Japonica ‘Pearl Maxwell’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most asian/zen and cottage gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of japanese garden, city and courtyard, informal and cottage, and in traditional garden styles.
In particular, the Pearl Maxwell Camellia’s best use for landscaping within your garden is as privacy screen, mass planting, container, border, cutting garden, espalier, or a woodland garden.
Companion Plants
Pearl Maxwell Camellia’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the double bloomer with low growing, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Coral Bells, and Hydrangea. Provide filtered sun with smaller canopy trees such as Cherry, Dogwood and Magnolia. For an Asian theme, design with mixed Azaleas, Bamboo and fragrant Gardenia. will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
Even though we covered a lot of care information for your Pearl Maxwell Camellia, remember the basics: sunlight, soil and water, as these should be enough to grow a healthy plant at home.
