Tom's Life Bits

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===== Fragrant abelia lures butterflies in summer =====

//By Catherine Bollinger, Correspondent//\\
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//Abelia can grow 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide.// \\
This time of year in my yard, the Butterfly Magnet Award goes to my Chinese abelias (Abelia chinensis). These shrubs are not for the petite landscape. Left unmolested, they can grow 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I know because mine are that big.

Fragrant white flower clusters the size of my two fists put together weigh down the branches, providing handy perches for the myriad swallowtails, monarchs, painted ladies, skippers and friends to pause for a lengthy drink of sweet nectar.

The flowers reach peak fragrance just as the sun hits them in the morning. The light perfume tickles my nose as I draw near to watch the pollinator ballet. Hummingbirds also stop by, but they don't linger the way the butterflies do.

After the tubular white flowers drop off, the remaining sepals turn a dusty pink, transforming the flower clusters from white to mauve. These clusters dry on the plants and persist through most winters, providing a nice contrast to the naked branches of this deciduous shrub.

Because Chinese abelia blooms on the new growth of the season, you can prune it brutally while it naps through the winter. Thus, it can be used as a formal hedge.

But I have the same aversion to rigidly shaped abelias that I have for lollipop-shaped forsythias. I believe in giving plants permission -- and enough room -- to be themselves. If that results in 7 feet of fragrant flower clusters animated by butterflies, I'm not going to complain.

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