Camellia 'Volunteer'

Large shrub, with shiny dark green leaves. In spring it has pin cushioned deep pink-red flowers, each petal with a distinctive frosted edge. They open soft pink and white, before deepening through the season to dark pinky red and white, and ending up pure red at the end of flowering. Spotted among his seedlings by New Zealand plant breeder Mark Jury, it has grown into something so special that it was named to honour volunteers everywhere, and even selected to appear on a postage stamp in it New Zealand. Hardy, semi-shade, and well drained soil.