For the past couple of months I’ve admired the flowers of Camellia ‘Yuletide’ in my neighbour’s front garden. As its name suggests, it flowers during the festive season, but it has certainly been in flower since November and will continue throughout January.

This camellia is a hybrid (C. japonica × C. sasanqua) – the result of a chance seedling produced in the USA back in 1959. Glossy dark green leaves provide a classy backdrop for the profusion of yellow-eyed, single red flowers. Their colouring is very striking – perfect for the build up to the Christmas season, but the dark green foliage offers year-round structure and interest.

If left to grow naturally, this is a relatively compact shrub with a pyramidal habit, but it can also be trained against a wall, or grown in a large pot if space is at a premium. Small flowers to 7.5cm across become prolific as the shrub matures to an eventual height of 2.5m and spread of 1.5m.

Like most camellias, ‘Yuletide’ likes a sheltered position with some shade. My neighbour’s plant is tucked behind a low wall and I think that gave it protection when young. It’s now about 2m tall and flowers more prolifically each year.