Camellia sasanqua October Magic® White Shi-Shi™

Selected for its bushy, spreading habit similar to the well-known ‘ShiShi Gashira’, this low growing evergreen offers porcelain-white, formal double blooms at a time of year when fewer trees and shrubs are blooming.

October Magic® White Shi-Shi™ Camellia (southernlivingplants.com)

Like the Shi Shi Gashira Camellia Sasanqua, with its peony like dazzling pink blooms, White Shi Shi Camellia is a compact shrub, only growing about four feet tall and wide. It blooms in October through January in its hardiness zones, and can be grown in colder climates in a container with some indoor winter protection. Luminescent fully double 3 inch white blooms cover the glossy green foliage, lasting about a week before another bud opens, providing an almost unending season of bloom until late winter. Other varieties bloom in January through to March, and still other varieties have a long bloom season from November until April. As always, check the hardiness zones listed to be sure you are able to successfully grow these lovely shrubs.

Native to China and Japan, this is a high altitude shrub, with a hardiness from 0 - 10 degrees Fahrenheit for the low range of the zone, Zones 7a to 9b. White Shi Shi was a newer introduction in 2017, bred especially for an autumn bloom time, providing a beautiful complement to late winter to spring blooming camellias. First time camellia gardeners will want to try this smaller, more compact Sasanqua to get their feet wet in growing them. Chances are you will be hooked and this may become a lifelong passion for you, too.

October Magic White Shi Shi Camellia | Plant Addicts