LA Peppermint Camellia

Crisp white blooms hand-streaked with candy-red, opening in the quiet of winter when almost nothing else dares to flower.

The LA Peppermint Camellia (Camellia japonica 'LA Peppermint') is a broadleaf evergreen shrub prized for its formal double flowers, each petal brushed and flecked with rose-red striping over a clean white ground so no two blooms look quite alike. It carries that color from winter into spring, set against thick, glossy, deep-green foliage that stays handsome all year. Maturing to a substantial 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide with an upright, rounded habit, it grows at a steady, moderate pace and earns a permanent place as a specimen, an evergreen anchor, or a graceful informal screen.

Why growers choose the LA Peppermint Camellia

• Off-season color. Flowers arrive in winter through spring, lighting up the landscape during the months when most shrubs are bare.
• Distinctive striped blooms. The full, formal double form in white striped with red gives every flower a one-of-a-kind, peppermint-swirl character.
• Year-round structure. Lustrous evergreen leaves provide dense, dark-green presence in every season, not just at bloom time.
• Long-lived and dependable. Hardy in zones 7 through 9, a well-sited camellia becomes a decades-long fixture of the garden.
• Beautiful for cutting. The shapely double flowers float gorgeously in a shallow bowl of water and bring living color indoors.

Use it as a refined focal point beside an entry, as an evergreen backbone in a shaded mixed border, layered under high tree canopy in a woodland setting, or spaced along a property line for a soft, living screen. Wherever it settles in, it rewards a sheltered, part-shade spot with seasons of winter bloom.