Light shade, a little food and lovely shrubs

Camellias are not fussy. A spot with decent drainage and mildly acid conditions usually makes them happy. With regular irrigation and light feeding for the first few years, they toughen and need less attention.

At planting, nurseryman Tom Nuccio suggests a 50-50 backfill of native soil and planter mix or compost. He also recommends three cottonseed meal feedings each year, at eight-week intervals starting in spring. “Easter, Fourth of July, Labor Day,” he adds, citing a customer’s mnemonic.

In nature, camellias grow in the light shade of pines and other tall trees, their roots cozy in a duff of fallen needles and leaves. Cultivated plants appreciate similar surroundings and a deep layer of organic mulch, kept safely away from the trunks.

To learn more, consult “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Camellias” (Timber, 1998) by Stirling Macoboy, with more than 1,000 entries.

If you want to experience the blossoms firsthand this weekend, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is holding a camellia show, and Descanso Gardens features a Valentine’s Day dinner in a camellia-decorated garden. (See Datebook, Page F6.) Descanso hosts a festival Feb. 28-29.

-- Lili Singer