Take the Camellia Challenge

Before

Today I took on the challenge of transforming this overgrown Camellia. It had been badly pruned many years ago and left alone until now. I thinned, removed dead branches, removed many stubs, and worked on setting up the groundwork for better, more attractive layering.

After

After my initial pruning this shrub looks a lot better. After a couple years of continued care, it will look really stunning.

When a shrub or tree is left untended for too long, especially after a hacked pruning job, it may take several years to reclaim its full potential beauty. A hack pruning causes excessive sprouting that eventually shades out the interior of the plant. When the plant’s interior gets no light, the inner green leaves die. You end up with a mess of dead branches that once removed leave behind bare, leggy scaffold branches.