I’ve been a fan of camellias for as long as I can remember and I have always grown them, regardless of the soil. Of course, these shrubs are acid-lovers (being in the same family as heathers and rhododendrons), yet I currently live in a chalk area and have some of the most lustrous camellias it has ever been my pleasure to look after.
These are woodland plants, originally hailing from India, China and Japan. When they were first introduced into England in the mid-18th century, they were kept in stifling hot houses, the gardeners then believing that everywhere in Asia was tropical.
As time went on, they realised that these plants were actually
