Sasanqua Camellia ‘Bonanza’

‘Bonanza’ opens the camellia season for us: deep fuchsia-red, peony-form flowers begin in early fall, well before the japonicas wake up. It's a vigorous sasanqua with smaller, finer foliage that takes shearing well.

Sasanquas handle considerably more sun than their japonica cousins, so this one is at home in a mostly sunny bed as well as light shade. Acidic, well-drained soil, water the first summers, and it's set. Use it as a flowering hedge, screen, or espalier against a fence.