Description
Every true tea in the world comes from one species, Camellia sinensis, and the difference between green, white, oolong and black is what happens after picking. This is that plant, from the tea growing region around Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast.
Tea grown on that coast sits at the cold edge of where the crop will grow at all, and plants carried through generations of those winters hold the frost tolerance to show it. In the garden it is a glossy evergreen shrub with fragrant white flowers in autumn, and it takes shearing well, so it can be kept as a low hedge or a patio plant in a large pot.
Overview
- Real tea: green, black, white and oolong all start here.
- Russian Black Sea stock, selected under genuine frost.
- Glossy evergreen foliage with fragrant white autumn flowers.
- Takes shearing; works as a low hedge or a container plant.
Growing Details
Latin Name: Camellia sinensis ‘Sochi’
Site and Soil: Part shade to full sun; acidic, well drained soil, pH 4.5 to 5.5
Hardiness: Hardy to USDA Zone 7
Bearing Age: Light picking in the second year; full picking by the third or fourth
Size at Maturity: Evergreen shrub, about 4 to 6 ft tall and wide, easily kept smaller
Ripening Time: Leaves picked spring through autumn; flowers in fall
Pollination: Self-fertile; grown for its leaves rather than for fruit
Pests & Diseases: Few problems; scale and aphids now and then, nothing persistent
Additional Notes
- Grower’s Insight: Pick the top two leaves and the unopened bud. Everything else on the shoot is too coarse, and picking that way keeps the plant bushy.
- Regional Insight: Tea carries its leaves through the winter, so the colder the site the more shelter it wants: a wall, a hedge, or a large pot that can be moved.
- Explore more evergreen edibles in our collection: Evergreen Edibles
