The Winter’s Star Camellia, otherwise known as the Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ or Winter’s Star’ Camellia, Cold-Hardy Camellias, Fall Blooming Camellias, Winter Blooming Camellias, Camellia Hybrids, Winter Series Camellias, Early Season Camellias, 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 Winter’s Star Camellia is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Winter’s Star Camellia Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The fundamental caring guidelines for every Winter’s Star Camellia can be summed up into the following:
- Water: The Winter’s Star Camellia needs soil that is constantly moist through regular watering.
- Light: Keep your Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ in an environment where it can receive full shade to partial sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Winter’s Star 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 Winter’s Star Camellia is, for the most part, healthy and well to survive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Winter’s Star Camellia belongs to the Theaceae family, the genus Camellia and the species Hybrida, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ (kuh-MEE-lee-uh).
As with other Camellia’s, the Winter’s Star Camellia is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Winter’s Star Camellia is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 7 – 8 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 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 Winter’s Star Camellia is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, what size of Winter’s Star Camellia are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…
The Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ can grow up to 4′ – 6′ (120cm – 180cm) in 4′ – 6′ (120cm – 180cm) and 5′ – 7′ (150cm – 210cm) in 5′ – 7′ (150cm – 210cm).
These dimensions make the Winter’s Star Camellia a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 60″ – 84″ (150cm – 210cm) free so the Winter’s Star Camellia can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Winter’s Star 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 X ‘Winter’S Star’ 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 Winter’s Star 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 properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Winter’s Star 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 Winter’s Star Camellia needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Winter’s Star Camellia prefers to have soil with good drainage 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 Winter’s Star Camellia requires soil with high organic matter, 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 Winter’s Star Camellia requires full shade to partial 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 partial sun to shade, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ in from full or deep shade (no direct sunlight or at most 2 hours per day), to little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Winter’s Star 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 Winter’s Star Camellia to flower around the fall and in the winter months from October to December (fall) and from January to March (winter).
In particular, this shrub is well known for its long bloom season, flowers for cutting and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Winter’s Star Camellia produces some beautiful pink, or pink and purple/lavender flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Winter’s Star Camellia have a beautiful dark green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a alternate organization in its leaves.
Garden
Does your Winter’s Star Camellia have any garden recommendations? Does it serve any gardening purposes? Here’s how you can get the most out of your new plant.
Most Camellia X ‘Winter’S Star’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most contemporary, 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 Winter’s Star Camellia’s best location within your garden is in patio and containers, beds and borders, hedges and screens, and in wall-side borders, others use it for landscaping in a hedge, specimen, border, espalier, privacy screen, mass planting, cutting garden, container, or a woodland garden.
Companion Plants
Winter’s Star Camellia’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Azalea, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Forsythia will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
And we’ve come to an end. Fortunately, that’s everything you need to know about your Winter’s Star Camellia to keep it safe and sound in your garden or home. Enjoy planting!
