Kanjiro is an upright spreading camellia. After 10 years in your garden (the commercial definition of the term maturity), it may be 8' tall here because our growing season is longer than yours. But camellias live hundreds of years so regardless whether it gets to be 5' or 8', Kanjiro will not stop growing at 10 years of age. You will have to prune to maintain its height.

Camellia season is winding down so I am not surprised you are having a hard time. Once you decide on a variety, mail order may be the way to go if special ordering is difficult. A spreading camellia like Shishi Gashira may be worth considering.

I fully agree with Luis. Your comment is very correct. "Growing vigorously to a tall, bushy shape form, it makes an excellent garden subject, whether as a specimen tree or hedge" (Stirling Macoboy). A camellia sasanqua, reaching five meters in width, it will take many years. You may never get to see him. Camellia sasanqua can be cut very well and maintain the shape you want, ("Kanjiro" belongs to the sub-species hiemalis), In the attached link is a picture and some comments on "Kanjiro."
Regards
Daniel D.F. oKintos

Here is a link that might be useful: Camellia X hiemalis

The garden center folks are incorrect-- I have a massive one-- but like the other posters say-- you can prune to keep it as needed

We recently bought a Kanjiro that I'd call mature (in a 15-gallon pot). It's at least 5 feet tall but probably no wider than maybe 40". It has larger leaves than the one pictured above that's growing in full sun, and unless you're growing yours in full sun, expect a leafier-looking plant overall. No doubt the camellia will continue to grow outward some as well as upward, but it would be awhile before you'd have to worry about trimming the branches because of the plant growing too wide, I'd guess.

Your situation of having a choice of one plant only isn't wonderful, but I think you'll wind up happy anyway. We had a choice of tons of varieties (we bought a bunch for a new landscaping area and a local nursery was willing to buy from several wholesale places for us) but Kanjiro is one I definitely wanted. As a hiemalis (though often sold in with the sasanquas), its blooms don't fall apart so easily as the sasanquas do, and in fact is specifically recommended as having prolific blooms that are good for cutting. Very hardy, as well.

Setting price aside, so far I've seen no reason to regret buying the huge camellias we bought, even though apparently some folks have problems with planting larger camellias out of a pot. We did make sure to work the outermost roots along the bottom and periphery out from their potting soil and get them started growing into the dirt in the ground. And also used some mycorrhiza (BioVam) on the roots.

One reason you can readily find Kanjiro is that it's *easy to grow*, according to everything I've seen about it.

Best wishes,
Mary