Wow, what a gorgeous tree! (Camellias are trees, but we think of them as shrubs because they are so slow-growing!) I will be watching this thread with great interest. If it was me, I would not trim it at all, but I am a novice with camellias. I know there are some experts here, so it will be interesting to see what they say.

Carol in Jacksonville

Hi Carol,

Thanks for complementing my tree, I like it too. Unfortunately, I do need to trim it because it's reducing light into the windows and in winter the strong wind makes it bend & hit the glass. I also have the start of a grapevine pergola growing above that smaller building and it tangles up with the camellia. Actually, I need to learn how to prune the grapevine too, come to think of it...and harvest the grapes. Phew, plenty of work!

Help! : )

Maybe you can limb it up higher -- remove anything that might hit windows. Then plant something that stays low as an understory shrub.

I've seen people hack these way back nearly the ground too, and they seem to come back.

I agree with Carol- it is a gorgeous tree- and the house looks pretty nice also!

I understand that it's a problem with the wind, but I think the simple answer is to figure out how tall you need/want it to be, and then cut it back to that height. My guess is that if the top of the camellia is about even with the roof in the first photo, it will be less subject to being blown about, so that's what I would aim for, but the question is what you would prefer?

Camellias are very cooperative when it comes to pruning, so you can do a drastic cutting-back and the plant will be fine. And it will be leafier also. If you do cut it way back it's likely that you'll sacrifice most or all of the flowers for next year, but it should only be a year without blooms (or with reduced blooms).

You'll probably want to do some shape pruning after you see how the plant responds to getting cut back, so it may be a few years before you achieve the look you want, but you'll get there.

Another possibility would be to take a more conservative approach, and cut the plant back more gradually, pruning a bit more each year. Obviously, it will take longer for the camellia to get where you want it in terms of size and shape, but it will look less awkward than if you cut it way back to begin with.

I have no advice to offer about the grapevine, but good luck with all the pruning... it will be worth it once you get things shaped up a bit.

Virginia

The bottom is already too bare, I wouldn't cut anything more off the lower parts. If it is brushing against the house maybe there are individual branches that can be pruned back to prevent this, rather than cutting the whole top. If instead pretty much the whole upper part is trashing around - and reaching the building during high winds - then you will just have to shorten all of it.

Which is a shame.

Well I went up and cut a bit off the top but mainly in the upper-centre, plus any that were close to the windows.

It's looking pretty bare now but it should grow below the cuts (?), so hopefully next year & the following, it will thicken up in the middle and be sort of round bushy. I can then just trim slightly around as needed to keep the shape. That's the plan, anyway...

Thanks everyone for all your advice - Fingers crossed for next year!

PS - This is the one around the other side of my house, which I think was more properly looked after:

You can't see many flowers in this pic, but they're there. Hopefully the big camellia will end up being a bit like this one.

Thanks again everybody!

It sounds like you've figured out what look you want, and are pruning accordingly. As I mentioned earlier, camellias are very forgiving, so if your camellia doesn't respond quite as you hope/expect, the resulting new growth will 'teach you' how to improve your pruning.

Most likely, though, you're going about it the right way, and will soon have a leafier shrub that will not be inclined to brush up against the windows.

Your other camellia is a nice-looking plant; I did do a double-take looking at that photo, wondering how you got the first camellia looking like that so quickly!

Virginia