Evergreen Shrubs That Are Related to the Tea Plant

• The camellia has white, pink or rose-colored flowers. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  Evergreen shrubs make up the backbone of a garden, plants to build around. Those evergreens related to the tea plant, in the family Theaceae, provide a sense of elegance in part shade. They are woodland plants with a liking for soil high in organic matter and slow to dry out. Flowers are usually showy, often with a cluster of yellow stamens in the center.

Japanese Camellia

• This is the shrub most people think of as a typical camellia---dense, fairly slow growing, 6 to 10 feet high. The flowers, opening in spring, may be single, semi-double or fully double, and white, pink or salmon. Choose from hundreds of named varieties, each with slightly different flowers. Camellias like acidic soil (pH 5.5 to 6.5), part shade, good drainage and regular watering---and partner well with azaleas and rhododendrons, ferns, bleeding hearts and other woodland plants. Given its preferred conditions, camellias are easy to grow and long lived. They are hardy to USDA zone 7, though breeders are working on extending the range northward.

Sasanqua Camellia

• Camellia sasanqua is less often seen than C. japonica, but has the advantage of blooming in fall and early winter. This is a more delicate shrub, with smaller leaves and flowers, often more open with gracefully curving, even vine-like, branches. Its flexibility makes it a good candidate for training as an espalier. The flowers are single or semi-double, white, pink or rose, and produced in profusion. Sasanqua camellias like the same conditions as C. japonica but are slightly less hardy, and the winter flowers need protection from wind and rain in colder areas.

Ternstroemia

• Grown for its glossy, attractive leaves rather than for its insignificant yellow flowers, Ternstroemia gymnanthera is slow growing to 6 or 8 feet tall and hardy to zone 7. Dark green in full shade, it develops tints of purple, red or bronze with some sun. Avoid full, hot sun. When mature, Ternstroemia bears small yellow to orange fruit. Like the camellias, this plant prefers acidic, moist soil.

Loblolly Bay

• The loblolly bay, Gordonia lasianthus, is a medium-sized tree, up to 40 feet high, native to swampy coastal plains from Virginia, south to Louisiana. Its 2-inch white single rose-like blossoms and glossy pointed leaves make it a valued ornamental for moist gardens. Gordonia prefers sun but will take some shade and is hardy to zone 8.