If you have a particular tone in mind it’s best to buy them while they are in flower, and in person, so you can see the colour in real life. There are now hundreds of named cultivars of sasanquas, in colours that range from white through variously hued pinks to red. “We grow pink-edged white ‘Pure Silk’ and soft pink ‘Jennifer Susan’ in that lollipop form,” he says, “and we also graft ground cover sasanquas to create sweeping standards which are really something, with beautiful cascading foliage and flowers.” Camellia Grove uses pink ‘Marge Miller’ and white ‘Snow’ for its weeping standards.

Ross Campbell, a third-generation camellia grower from Camellia Grove Nursery in Glenorie, adds that standard sasanquas have become more popular over recent years. They also suit being espaliered along a fence, and will grow happily in a pot. Or they can be planted close together and clipped into a hedge, with different varieties offering height options from one to five metres. Sasanquas can be grown as a small tree, with the lower and crossing branches removed to lift the canopy and show off a skeleton of twisting branches topped by clouds of glossy foliage.

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