# Mountain Camellia (Stewartia ovata)

> Large white camellia-like flowers in July on a rare Appalachian small tree with orange-red fall color.

Also called mountain stewartia. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-camellia/

![Mountain camellia (Stewartia ovata) fuzzy seed capsules and leaves turning color in fall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/mountain-camellia-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stewartia_ovata_3zz.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 10 to 20 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 8
- Grows wild in: The Appalachians, stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory
- Native range: 9 states, north to [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN) and [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA))
- Sun: Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: July
- Fruit: Capsules, August to September
- First crop: 7 to 17 years (first flowers, north of its range)
- Mature spread: 15 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Rare, Fall color, Tolerates shade, Winter interest
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Mountain stewartia is seldom seen in cultivation. It produces three-inch summer flowers when little else blooms, then brilliant fall color. Slow and choice. In winter the bark takes over, with gray-brown ridges and orange-brown furrows. Made for the east side of a house, as a specimen out of the afternoon sun.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Mountain camellia opens its flowers in July, when few other trees are in bloom. Each is 2½ to 3 inches across with five ruffled white petals around purple stamens and orange anthers, and the seed follows in a woody five-part capsule. It is slow, about a foot a year on an average site in our growth estimator's model. It makes a small understory tree or large shrub of 10 to 15 feet, about as wide as it is tall, with a rounded to oval habit.

The name comes from the likeness of those flowers to a camellia's. The leaves turn orange and red in fall, and birds and small mammals spread the seed. The capsules ripen in August and September.

It grows wild in the southern Appalachians and Piedmont from Virginia to Alabama, on wooded stream banks, at the bases of bluffs, and in shaded ravines and openings in rhododendron thickets. It is sensitive to drought, heat and compacted soil.

## How to grow Mountain Camellia

Mountain camellia wants part shade, cast by tall trees or a wall that blocks the afternoon. It grows in soil of average moisture that neither dries hard nor stays soggy. Allow 15 feet from a building and keep it clear of a big maple's roots.

Plant in the dormant season. We ship it potted, because the fine roots do not take bare-root handling, and the less you break up the ball the better. Dig twice the ball's width and no deeper, set the top of the ball level with grade, and backfill with the soil you took out. Mulch over the roots, off the trunk, and stake only on a windy site. Seed needs a warm spell and then a cold one. Sow it fresh in fall in a protected outdoor bed under fine wire screen, and expect most seedlings the second spring. Indoors, keep it damp at room temperature for three to five months and then in the refrigerator for three months before sowing.

Water through the first three summers whenever a week goes dry, since this tree does not bounce back from wilting. Keep the mulch topped up and fence against deer rub while the trunk is thin. Prune nothing but broken wood.

Mountain camellia carries both male and female parts in each flower, and bees carry the pollen. Most stewartias set seed with their own pollen, and even a lone tree can bear viable seed. Mountain stewartia is slow and resents being moved, so pick the spot as permanent. Flowers open a few at a time through July rather than all at once.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Stewartia ovata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/stewartia-ovata/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Stewartia ovata](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=287341)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC, Native Stewartias](https://hgic.clemson.edu/native-stewartias-the-american-camellia-relatives/)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Stewartia ovata, J. Grimshaw 2016](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/stewartia/stewartia-ovata/)
- [Boland and Rounsaville 2019, Taming the Wild Stewartia, Combined Proceedings International Plant Propagators' Society 69: 233-239](https://ipps.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/6gSR-Boland-2019.pdf)
- [Center for Plant Conservation: Patiently Growing a Stellar Stewartia Collection, from the Polly Hill Arboretum](https://saveplants.org/patiently-growing-a-stellar-stewartia-collection/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Stewartia ovata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148162/Stewartia_ovata)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: mountain-camellia, Stewartia ovata](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=1038)
- [The Polly Hill Arboretum: Stewartia ovata (Mountain Stewartia), cultivars from the notes of Polly Hill](https://www.pollyhillarboretum.org/plants/stewartias-2/stewartia-ovata-mountain-stewartia/)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Is my new tree dying or just in shock? The first year’s signs, the scratch test and what to do](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/is-my-new-tree-dying-or-just-shocked/index.html.md)
- [Bare-root trees on arrival: the first hour, the first week and the first spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other stewartias (Stewartia) we grow: [Silky Camellia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/silky-camellia/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Umbrella Magnolia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/umbrella-magnolia/index.html.md), [Pagoda Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pagoda-dogwood/index.html.md), [Chalk Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chalk-maple/index.html.md) and [Red Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-buckeye/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md), [Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/index.html.md) and [Yellow Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-birch/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Silky Camellia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/silky-camellia/index.html.md), [Showy Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/showy-mountain-ash/index.html.md), [Sweetleaf](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweetleaf/index.html.md) and [Florida Yew](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-yew/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia), add ?species=mountain-camellia with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 5, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia): whether Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=mountain-camellia:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=mountain-camellia&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia) flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=mountain-camellia