Snow Bells Handel's Camellia. This relatively new species to the camellia pallett came to us from Loch Laurel Nursery in Valdosta, GA. Mark Crawford gave me this plant several years ago and it has proven quite cold hardy for us with no damage even to the mid teens. The most remarkable characteristic of this plant is the flower production. I have seen as many as 6 flower bids at a single node, with every node encircled with buds. The leaves are small: 1.5" long by less than 1/2 inch wide. The branches arch gracefully in an almost weeping fashion with the 2" white, fragrant flowers covering the stems. The flowers will start to open here in zone 8 in early to mid February and continue through March. This selection will mostly be a more compact shrub, but in its native China, it can ultimately reach 10' in height. We know it is a zone 8 plant, but may be hardy enough to change this to zone 7 once it is trailed in this area.
Zones 7b-10
