Known in Japan as ‘Akashigata’, the camellia the South calls ‘Lady Clare’ has been gracing gardens since the 1880s: very large, semi-double, deep rose-pink flowers on a vigorous, slightly weeping shrub with lush foliage.

Morning sun or high shade, acidic well-drained soil, and room to develop its graceful habit — it wants to be a broad, generous plant rather than a clipped one. Beautiful at a woodland edge or anchoring the corner of a shady bed.