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The World's Largest Camellia?



Of course it isn't but I marvel at the size of this camellia when I pass it on my way to work. I am not good at judging sizes but I am guessing that it is at least 20 feet tall? It is in the corner of someone's front lawn and you can compare it to the dogwood next to it and the house behind it. It is past it's prime in blooming but look at the number of blooms! I have never seen camellias bloom the way they do here. They just completely cover the bush (or in this case - tree). 

 Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Lisa at Greenbow said…
That is a doozy. It makes me wonder how old it is.??? I wonder if it was planted when t he house was built??
May 8, 2018 at 2:06 AM
Christopher C. NC said…
That is huge. There are some freakishly large camellias in a garden I started working in last fall. Totally unexpected in WNC. I am pretty certain they are from the first release of the cold hardy camellia breeding program from the National Arboretum. Not only are they huge, they make fruit, set viable seed and have been self sowing in the garden.
May 8, 2018 at 6:11 AM
outlawgardener said…
It's a beautiful monster!
May 8, 2018 at 7:28 AM
Aaron said…
Incredible! (And a double-wow for Christoper C's comment. I'd like to see that. I have a couple of small camellias that were (of course) planted way too close to the house by the original builder (I presume). The proximity to the porch does help to protect them from Tennessee cold snaps and may have kept them alive, but your photo is a reminder of the folly of planting a tree-size plant just a few inches from a foundation!!
May 8, 2018 at 8:03 AM
Anonymous said…
I just bought a house in Crescent City, Ca, and have a 35-40 foot Camillia tree in the back yard. It was such a shock when the previously unidentified tree set thousands of buds. Last week I noticed a few 2 1/2 inch pink flowers and figured out what it was. Trunk is big enough that two people needed to reach around it. I read about another huge one in Washington state on a blog site called City data. Your tree and the one from Wa. all have pink flowers. I wonder if this wasn't some cultivar that came out in the 50's and fell by the wayside either because of it's size, which is not really what most buyers would expect, or just that it's flowers were outdone by a newer variety. Great cultivars disappear all the time due to churning created by trying to keep up with bigger flowers, increased cold or disease tolerance, and better varieties. I suspect this was left behind due to it's size, and most of them have been long since cut down when they outgrew their position near the front door. I intend to grow cuttings once I am finally retired in a few months, and have heat and flooring so I can finally move in. If anyone is passionate about this and wants a cutting, it should be about 2 years, and you can file my email away and contact me in a year and a half. cecilyann2@yahoo.com.
October 23, 2023 at 7:38 AM
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