Tall Camellia Varieties

USDA Zone 7

• Camellia sinensis, commonly known as tea, is a tall variety of camellia native to India, Thailand, China and other Asian locales. Tea lacks the large, showy flowers many tall camellias produce, but makes up for this lack with 5-inch-long, glossy evergreen foliage often processed to produce the familiar beverage. Tea grows to 15 feet in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 7, where you can create small groves or hedges with it. Camellia japonica grows between 8 and 15 feet in Zone 7, doing well in the shade and featuring flowers up to 5 inches wide. Keep this camellia out of direct sunshine, where winter sun may turn the evergreen foliage shades of yellow.

USDA Zone 8

• "Korean Fire" is a cultivar of Camellia japonica that's cold-hardy to Zone 6 and well-suited for Zone 8. Korean Fire generates red flowers with yellow centers, growing to 15 feet tall and up to 8 feet wide. It performs best, as with most camellia species, in damp, acidic soils. Mountain camellia (Stewartia ovata) is a native to the southeastern states, topping out at 15 feet. Mountain camellia’s white flowers emerge in May. The shrub takes on a vase-like shape as it matures, sometimes developing into a small tree.

USDA Zone 9

• Southeast Asia is the native land of Camellia furfuracea, a type of shrub growing to 9 feet. This camellia, appropriate for Zone 9, can become small tree–size in its wild settings. It blooms in the winter in Zone 9, generating its white flowers — featuring eight petals — from December into March. Red, crinkled petals on 7-inch-wide flowers highlight "Crimson Robe," a Camellia reticulata cultivar for Zone 9. A cultivated plant for many centuries, this Chinese species grows between 8 and 10 feet high.

USDA Zone 10

• Originating in the mountainous terrain of Taiwan, Camellia transnokoensis grows to 10 feet in cultivation, less than half the size it may attain in a native venue. This camellia is evergreen, producing its clusters of white flowers in Zone 10 from December through the beginning of spring. The new foliage displays a reddish hue when it first appears. The tea-oil camellia (Camellia oleifera) grows between 10 to 20 feet high. This tall variety, from Indochina and China, blooms from October into January in Zone 10. It possesses white flowers to go along with dark green foliage.