Abelia chinensis - Butterfly Magnet

Each year now for the past ten, it seems like more new Abelia culitvars are put on the market. It is becoming increasingly hard for me to distinguish the difference between all of the choices. I have been impressed with one new offering, 'Kaleidoscope' (Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope'), since I first saw it, and I especially like how it looks in the winter. The original plant was developed at Panoramic Farm in North Carolina, but now every wholesale nursery is clamoring for it. One of my childhood plant memories is of old-fashioned Glossy Ablelia (Abelia x grandiflora) which as kids we called the Bumblebee Plant which is also what we called Hibiscus syriacus (the curse of common names). Both would be covered in black and yellow buzzers in summer, and it was great fun to push each other into the plants. Alas, the bees were always too busy with their work to let boy's pranks get in the way.

One of the parents of Glossy Abelia is Abelia chinensis or Chinese Abelia, and it gets very few bumble bees. It is always too covered with butterflies to leave any room for other insects. We started carrying Chinese Abelia about 10 years ago, and it is one of those plants that will sit in the nursery for months unnoticed by customers. However, when it starts blooming it sells well and usually to people who had not come in looking for it. Humans are not only drawn to it because they like butterflies, but it is also has an incredible scent. In fact it is probably the most fragrant Abelia. Unlike others, Chinese Abelia is not evergreen and its flowers bloom in clumps instead of singly. It has a gangly wild habit, forms a 5-6' tall and wide clump and is hardy in zones (6)7-9.