Abelia

About Abelia

Abelias (Zones 6-10) is named after a British physician Dr. Clark Abel. One of the most common species (Abelia grandiflora) was hybridized by Edward Goucher.

This shrub is attractive throughout the year, its growth habit varies from three to six feet. Flowering occurs from early summer to late winters. Flowers are small, trumpet shaped, pink and white in color. These generally appear in the upper leaf axils and stem ends, one to eight in a cluster forming a short cyme infloresence. These are pendulous have five lobed corolla which is one to five centimeters long and bear beautiful fragnance.

The genus have about 30 species having different traits like flower size, colour, growing pattern etc. Abelia x grandiflora is an interspecific hybrid between A.chinensis and A.uniflora.

About half of the leaves fall during colder climate and rest take deep red coloration. After foliage also this plant is attractive as its star shaped calyx is still adhesive to the plant.

This glossy abelia hybrid is a compact, small, semi-evergreen, bushy, somewhat spreading, multi-stemmed shrub in the Caprifoliaceae family. Typically grows on gracefully arching branches to two to three feet tall. Ovate, glossy, dark green leaves (to 1.25" long) turn purplish-bronze in autumn.

Their flowers, in drooping clusters, last long, and the colored sepals retain their beauty far into the autumn. The flowers are lavender or pale pink, funnel-shaped with orangish yellow throats. The flowers are produced from July to September.

General Culture

Easily grown in average, medium wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best flowering in full sun. Prefers moist, organically rich soils which drain well.

It is good to plant it two to three feet apart in order to form a natural or pruned hedge. Prunning and proper light(full sun or part shade)is essential for better growth. Prunning should be done immediately after flowering by thinning out the old wood. It prefers moist,porous,slightly alkaline or loamy soil.

Garden Care

Deadhead regularly to prolong flowering. In autumn after flowering lightly trim back the flowered shoots to retain a neat and tidy shape. Remove any dead or damaged wood in April.

Abelia Pictures

Related Flowers

Rock Abelia

Rock Abelia (Abelia Chinensis) - A pretty shrub, usually of dense growth, three to five feet high. The hardiest kind to do well needs a warm, light soil and a sheltered spot. The flowers, about an inch long, are in clusters of a pale blush color, fragrant. Syn. A. rupestris.

Mexican Abelia

Mexican Abelia (Abelia Floribunda) - A beautiful shrub, but save in warm, southern and western parts must be grown under glass. The flowers come in spring as drooping clusters from every joint, rose or rosy-purple, about two inches long, and hang for many weeks upon the plant.

Hybrid Abelia

Hybrid Abelia (Abelia Grandiflora) - Said to be a hybrid, and is handsome but not quite hardy, even in the south. Best on a low, sunny wall, on which it flowers well, and for a long period.

Dwarf Abelia

Dwarf Abelia (Abelia Serrata) - A dwarf evergreen bush upon dry and sunny hillsides in China and Japan. It is smaller in all its parts than the other Chinese species, growing little more than 3 feet high, with solitary pale red flowers, large and sweet.

Twin-flowering Abelia

Twin-flowering Abelia (Abelia Spathulata) - An elegant evergreen shrub. Flowers in April; white, marked with yellow in the tube; in pairs from every joint, and about an inch long.

Indian Abelia

Indian Abelia (Abelia Triflora) - A lovely shrub, best on a wall. The flowers, coming in threes at the end of summer, are cream or pale yellow flushed with pink.