The abelias, Asiatic and Mexican shrubs of the honeysuckle family, were named in honor of Dr. Clarke Abel, an English botanist and physician.
He accompanied Lord Amherst on his embassy to China in 1816 and described many Chinese plants. None of the several species are reliably top-hardy in northeastern parts of the United States.
1844 European Garden
They were first introduced into European gardens in 1844. In 1845, the Italian nurserymen Rovelli Brothers produced a hybrid between the evergreen A. chinensis and the deciduous Mexican A. uniflora.
This proved to be notably hardier and more vigorous than either parent species and is the best and most widely cultivated abelias in northeastern gardens.
In years it appeared in the literature under various names, but it is now generally known as A. grandiflora, the glossy abelia, so named by the late Alfred Rehder.
This hybrid is a so-called tetraploid, that is one in which the normal number of chromosomes is doubled. Such an occurrence often results in markedly increased vigor.
It seems that after 1845, other hybrids of the same parentage were raised elsewhere, probably not tetraploids, and are not widely cultivated in this country today.
A Cut-Beek Shrub
Abelia grandiflora should be evaluated not from the viewpoint of its top-hardiness but rather for its performance as a so-called cut-back shrub. Its stems usually do not, or only partly, survive above ground in northern gardens.
But even if they survive after a mild winter, it is best to cut them down to mere stubs in the early spring.
So treated, the plant will renew itself from its base every summer, forming an attractive, diffuse bush about 2′ feet high, with stems more than 3′ feet long, splashed outward.
The slender, pointed leaves soon become dark green and glossy and begin to bronze toward early autumn, remaining in good condition well into winter.
From mid to late June into late fall, clusters of white, pink-flushed, bell-shaped, somewhat fragrant flowers are borne at the ends of short lateral growths.
They are not impressive individually but pretty in the bush. Even the dry, brownish seed capsules, subtended by rosy-colored sepals, remain subtly decorative into winter.
It is a sparkling, diffuse, and yet inconspicuous shrublet throughout the summer and into winter, acceptable practically everywhere. Few other shrubs flower continuously and are effective over so long.
Many Garden Uses
All the more because there aren’t too many good low-growing shrubs, a shrub-let of this general description finds all manner of garden uses wherever it will thrive.
It is not at all finicky to soil and succeeds well in any well-worked, reasonably good garden or border soil.
It endures light overhead shade but develops its best coloring in full sunlight. Yet, it should not be planted in sun-parched situations. A northern or northeastern exposure is ideal.
It serves admirably as a more or less casual small filler shrub between evergreens in a foundation area.
Its near-evergreen foliage provides a good transition between deciduous things and such evergreen shrubs as Pieris japonica and Rhododendron carolinianum. It looks well, also, in the foreground of the shrub border.
Important Uses of Groundcover
One of its most important uses is that of a groundcover, higher and more sparkling than, for instance, periwinkle in solid strips, beds, or panels. For such use, it is not outdone by any other material. It also makes a pretty informal hedge.
Root Hardy Abelia Grandiflora
Abelia grandiflora is reliably root-hardy as far north and inland as the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York State.
It is one of the most useful and attractive of all available small shrubs for the home landscape.
44659 by P. J. Van Melle