How to Prune Camellias

When most plants are heading into dormancy, camellias are just getting ready for their big debut. These shrubs add color and beauty to the landscape during the cooler months, and their glossy foliage provides a striking backdrop for other flowering plants in the summer. 

Camellias don’t technically need to be pruned to bloom. However, doing so correctly will certainly increase the number and vigor of those flowers. Under ideal conditions, a camellia will grow and bloom for many years without any assistance. It might not be as spectacular as when it receives some attention and maintenance. 

It’s not difficult to care for these plants, and they won’t need a ton of attention through most of the year. Give them dappled sunlight, well-drained, acidic soil, and an average amount of moisture, and they will reward you handsomely. 

Let’s discuss the best time to prune your camellias and some important practices that will keep it in prime condition. Proper care of your shrubs will ensure long and beautiful lifespans. Some even outlive the gardeners who plant them!

Tool Spray

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Felco 980 Tool Spray

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Lopper

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Felco 211-60 Lopper

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Hand Pruner

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Felco 8 Ergonomic Hand Pruner

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Deadhead During Blooming Season

Deadheading is an important factor in maximizing the blooms of many plants. Most camellias fall into this category, so it’s a great habit to get into. Your shrub will still bloom without doing this, but you’ll see more and stronger blooms if you do.

Some camellias are self-cleaning, meaning that they deadhead themselves. Their spent blooms fall off of the plant without assistance. These are wonderful varieties, as the fallen flowers create a stunning carpet of color beneath the shrub. 

For those varieties that are not self-cleaning, you’ll want to help out by snipping those spent blooms. I’m a fan of waiting until they open, bringing them indoors, and floating them in a bowl of water. This way, I can enjoy them for a few days indoors. 

Yearly Pruning

Your young, newly planted shrub will not require significant trimming for the first three years. In fact, you should avoid it. Allow your camellia to take these first years to put on growth and grow strong and sturdy branches. In its fourth year, it will be time for a light pruning. The exception to this rule is trimming off dead or diseased branches. You should do this whenever you notice the damage. 

Choose the Right Time

The best time to prune these shrubs is immediately after they finish blooming. Camellias bloom on new growth, so they will bloom without trimming. If you’re going to trim, doing so right after blooming gives the plant ample time to put on that new growth and set buds. 

Depending on the species, the flowering season can be in late fall or winter and into spring. Sasanquas bloom from roughly October through December, and japonicas bloom from about December through April, depending on the variety. 

Choose the Right Tools

I’m guilty of going out into the garden with any old tool and snipping bits and pieces all over with the same tool. So, I know firsthand how easy it is to do this. It’s not a good idea, though. You really ought to use a clean, sharp tool when you prune.

A sharp tool will make a clean cut. Clean cuts heal faster, which leaves less opportunity for harmful pathogens to get into your cuts and wreak havoc. Hand shears, a pruning saw, and a pair of loppers are good for this task. These should work depending on the size of the shrub and the amount of pruning you need to do. 

Hand shears are great for a quick trim to refresh your camellia. For larger limbs, a pruning saw is a great investment. This will leave you with a clean cut on those branches that are difficult to cut through in one snip from your hand shears. Loppers are great for hard pruning.

Assess the Shape and Health of Your Shrub

Before you get to work, take a good look at your plant and how it is growing. Decide what shape you are looking for. For sasanqua, a shrubbier shape is more natural and easier to maintain. Depending on your preference and space, you can prune a japonica to look shrubby or treelike. 

Consider the space where your camellia resides. Assess its proximity to any buildings or other large plants, and make a long-term plan for how large you want it to grow. Sasanquas will typically grow to about 10-15 feet, while japonicas can reach heights up to 25 feet. 

If you have inherited overgrown or leggy shrubs, skip to the section on hard pruning. It will take a year or two to get them back in shape, but rejuvenating these shrubs is possible. 

Examine the interior of the shrub as much as possible, as you will want to maintain proper airflow. A healthy, younger shrub should only require a light trim, along with some minimal shaping. 

Clean Up Dead and Damaged Limbs

You can trim off damaged wood any time you notice it, but if you’ve waited until now, it’s best to take care of this first. Remove any dead or damaged limbs and twiggy growth. 

If you have any overgrown limbs that need more than a trim, go ahead and take those down. It’s safe to cut them to 1/2 of their current length without harming the plant. 

Removing dead and damaged branches is good for your camellia. First, it makes the plant less susceptible to disease and its spread. Second, it helps the plant redirect energy into healthy new growth.

Thin Out the Interior

The next step is to work on the shrub’s interior. The objective here is to allow space for air to circulate and light to get through. The increase in airflow and sunlight helps to control and prevent pest infestation and disease. 

Identify and remove any crossing branches. This takes stress off the branches they touch and improves the shrub’s appearance. Remove any small, thin, or twiggy branches from the interior. If possible, remove weaker branches and leave stronger ones. 

Removing the weaker growth encourages the plant to focus energy on the more substantial limbs. Always make your cuts as close as possible to the base of the branch and as clean as you can.

Trim Healthy Branches

Finally, once you’ve handled the structural pruning, it’s time to do the manicuring work. This is the way to encourage your shrub to produce more flowers in the next season. You do this by snipping off the ends of every branch that bloomed in the past season.

The amount you cut off should depend on your growth objective. If your shrub is young and you want it to grow taller and fuller, only snip the ends of the branches. Remove the last set of leaves. If you want to maintain the shape and size of your plant, trim about three inches off of each branch. 

If your shrub is overgrown and leggy, this is where you should move on to the hard pruning section. Camellias tolerate hard pruning as long as you take your time and don’t overdo it. 

Hard Pruning

Camellias can tolerate hard pruning to rejuvenate them if they are overgrown or leggy. As with light pruning, this should take place in the spring, after the natural blooming season ends. While a mature shrub will tolerate trimming it back to about three feet tall, it’s best not to remove any more than necessary to achieve the look you want.

Make Your Cuts

Using clean and sharp tools to make these cuts is important, as they will be significant. The cleaner the cut, the faster it heals. Preferably, use sharp loppers or a pruning saw. Power tools can be abrasive and damaging. 

Decide how far you want to cut the shrub back. The less you cut, the faster your camellia will recover and bloom again. Expect that next season, there will be little to no flowers. It will be worthwhile when you have a healthy and robust plant once again. 

Cut the branches you’ve chosen all the way back to the feeder branches. Don’t cut into the middle of a branch, or you’ll end up with a poorly balanced plant. Cut as close to the base of the branch as possible. 

Apply Sealant (Optional)

If you want to use a sealant, go ahead and do that right after making your major cuts. This helps protect the shrub against fungus and other harmful pathogens while it heals over those cuts. If you’ve made nice, clean cuts, they should be fine without the sealant, but they won’t hurt. 

Thin Branches in the Fall

When you cut back a camellia hard in this way, you’ll get a lot of new growth coming from those cuts. Too many small branches can cause a traffic jam in the interior of your shrub, which reduces airflow, preventing fungus and other diseases. 

In the fall, you should have a fair amount of growth and be able to see where the new branches are growing. Examine the directions that these new branches are growing. Remove any new branches that grow straight upward. Thin out the branches that will form the interior of the shrub to minimize crossing branches. 

Give it a Spring Refresh

Once you’ve selected the new feeder limbs, you should treat this camellia like a young plant. That means doing a minimal amount of work for the next few years. You’re unlikely to see flowers in the first spring, but there is a solid chance of a mild blooming season the following year. 

Spring is a good time to reassess the shape and integrity of the new growth. Because of the way your shrub will grow back, there will be crossing branches to thin in the spring and likely the following year, too. The objective is to bring the shrub back to a well-balanced, structurally sound form. 

Wait until you have a regular, full bloom before you resume regular spring pruning. Then, revert to the process above. One exception to this is that you’ll want to continue to remove any dead, damaged, or diseased growth as usual.