Camellia 'Cup of Beauty'. Picture: Holly Kerr Forsyth Camellia 'Beatrice Emily'. Picture: Holly Kerr Forsyth Source: Supplied Camellia reticulata 'Highlight'. Picture: Holly Kerry Forsyth Camellia reticulata 'Howard Asper'. Picture: Holly Kerr Forsyth. Camellia 'Courtesan'. WHILE winter may be considered the dormant season, there is plenty happening in the garden. The magnolias are muscling up, ready to flower against a blue winter sky; the gordonias are flowering with their delicate, crepe paper-like flowers and huge yellow centres. The flowering apricots are covered in pink blossom and the daphne is spreading its wonderful fragrance through the garden. And the camellias - mostly the sasanqua, japonica and reticulata species - are at their peak. There is no denying that we are in the midst of the camellia season. Everywhere you look these seemingly fragile beauties - revered by artists from the painters of ancient China and Japan to our own Paul Jones - are employed in myriad ways. The variety among the three main species of camellia is vast, offering a camellia for every purpose and position. They love being hedged, particularly the sasanqua species; you can train them as an espalier. Among the best for hedging are C. sasanqua 'Beatrice Emily', with her loose, cream flowers edged in pink and 'Jennifer Susan' with an upright growth habit and salmon-coloured flowers. The white-flowering 'Lovelight' and 'White Nun' are also excellent for hedging. Prune from the get-go to ensure a dense hedge, from its base. With larger leaves, C. japonica 'Tinsie' and the elegant, pale pink 'Lady Loch' are particularly spectacular trained on wires, along a wall. And you can thread the long whippy branches through a hedge of a different genus to extend the flowering season. You could mark the exit from a dark woodland area with a pair of clipped, variegated C. japonica 'Benton'; or, use the yellow-flowering C. nitidissima, which is native to the subtropical, damp region of China's Guangxi province, to illuminate gloomy areas. Camellias make beautiful feature trees, perfect for a small garden or courtyard. The reticulata species, from the Yunnan province of China - it thrives, therefore, in similar, temperate climates in Australia - is the most obvious choice, growing to several metres in height and supporting large, flamboyant blooms. None that I know of are scented, but many have gorgeous bark, so continue to fascinate when the flowers are finished. Camellia henryi flowers through autumn and winter and bears fabulous bark, along with C. gigantocarpa. While most camellias thrive in a range of climates, some, like Camellia x williamsii cultivars are particularly long-flowering in a colder climate. Try 'Donation', 'Anticipation' and 'EG Waterhouse'. C. assimilis, with its red foliage and masses of small white flowers, is native to subtropical and coastal parts of China. My favourite camellia is the japonica 'Cup of Beauty', which blooms in my garden in several shades: pale pink, pink splashed raspberry and cerise. The leaves of the sinensis species are valued around the globe as tea, which contributed in no small way to the so-called Opium Wars - also called the Anglo-China Wars - of the first half of the 19th century. Plant hunter Robert Fortune collected its seed in 1849, in Zhejiang province, resulting in the tea plantations of India and Sri Lanka. Among the several flower shapes that camellias bare, the single bloom has five to eight petals arranged in one row around a showy central boss. The semi-double has two or more rows of petals, while the anemone form has an outer row of petals with a raised central mass of petals and stamens. There is the peony-form flower and the rose form: the most elegant is surely the formal double form with its overlapping petals. Prunings YATES gardening expert Judy Horton notes that camellias aren't entirely trouble-free, although, with a little care, most problems can be avoided. Always keep a layer of organic mulch leaf. Mould mixed with aged cow manure is ideal over the roots," she says. Water well in dry periods but make sure water can get away when it's wet. Horton notes that the tea mite, or leaf mite, a tiny sap-sucking insect, has appeared in recent years. Damage usually appears first in the middle of the leaf and spreads out to create a broad, brown band. As the problem occurs in dry weather Horton advises misting the foliage. If damage is widespread, spray leaves with a mite control or a horticultural oil, making sure you cover both sides of the leaves. Aphids also can damage foliage. "Again, use an oil spray or scale control and try to improve the plant's growing conditions," advises Horton. If a camellia is in too sunny a position, causing yellow leaves, spraying a protective layer of an anti-transpirant such as DroughtShield can help. And Horton recommends Dynamic Lifter Plus Flower Food for feeding camellias after blooming. Camellias are tolerant of a range of soils but do best in acid soil. They'll thank you for tipping out the teapot under them. Holly Kerr Forsyth attained a PhD on 19th and 20th-century pastoral gardens. Twitter: @hollykerforsyth