Every garden should have one of these evergreen flowering shrubs: they flower in late winter/early spring and give a fantastic display of flowers.

They are much more hardy than once thought but you do need to protect them from the east and north by means of a wall, fence, hedge

or perhaps another shrub. Wind from the east and the north can be

damaging but, more important, they need protection from early morning sun when the buds have been frosted - quick thawing browns the buds or blooms.

But beware ..... they don’t like limy or chalky soils so if your garden has this type of soil, you will need to dig a decent-sized hole and fill it with ericaceous compost and mulch the plant each year with this type of compost too.

The colour range is white, pink and red with certain variations on this such as white-striped pink or red-marbled white. There are also hybrid camellias and one is a beautiful shade of peach. Whatever colour you choose, the flowers contrast extremely well with the deep, shiny green foliage.

Even if you have only a patio or balcony, you can still grow them as they are very suited to pot or tub culture.