A few weeks ago, I received the following email from one of our subscribers: Jeff, I have a question for you. I was walking around campus the other day, and it is beautiful, it just makes me want to hang out and enjoy it all. I noticed some low growing plants that looked to me like camellias (they had buds on them) but they were not very tall maybe about 2 feet or 3 feet high. There were some by Bryant Hall. Anyway my question is, are these dwarf camellias or do you just prune back regular ones? I am interested in planting some. The shrubs mentioned in the above email are the Shishi Gashira camellia, Camellia sasanqua. This camellia is a low growing shrub that can be kept very small at about 1' in height, or it can grow up to 4-5' if never pruned. I started using the Shishi Camellia about 8 years ago on campus. We prune them once in the spring and then let them grow throughout the remaining seasons. We fertilize them with a 12-6-6 nursery mix fertilizer with minor elements in late April, but 13-13-13 will also work. This is a great shrub with which I have experienced very few problems. The Shishi Camellia really prefers filtered sun light best. The cost of the Shishi is a little higher than what you might pay for your average shrub, but it is definitely worth the investment. This plant is a versatile performer. It displays hot pink flowers in fall and into the winter with great dark green foliage. The flowers also make beautiful cuttings. This shrub is an excellent choice for a low hedge that is full of fall color.