Abelia and Kolkwitzia - Two Shrubs to Know

Abelia is one of those shrubs you've probably seen in your grandmother's garden because It's been a popular landscape shrub for what seems like forever. The shrubs, members of the Honeysuckle Family (Caprifoliaceae) can grow five feet or more tall if left to assume their natural vase-like shape, but if they have been planted as foundation plants, particularly under windows, they've most likely been shorn to green meatballs and have lost much of what makes them so attractive. Abelia has renewed popularity due to its more compact selections, deer resistance, and abundant blooms that attract pollinators. This shrub has been used extensively in Southern gardens because thed small, glossy leaves are semievergreen down to about 15 degrees and the bell-shaped blossoms clustered among the leaves or at ends of branches, typically bloom from spring until fall.

Kolkwitzia amabilis, better known as Beauty Bush, is also a member of the Honeysuckle Family and so the flowers look larger, showier Abelia flowers. However, this plant is taller, deciduous, and flowers in the spring. One advantage of Beauty Bush is that it can withstand cold as far north as USDA Zone 4. It's a good plant to have in the flower border and a beautiful sign that Spring has arrived.


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Music - "LITTLE TOMCAT" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/

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