Abelia x grandiflora 'KALEIDOSCOPE'^®

Looking for the most spectacular trees and shrubs with eye-catching flowering one tends to forget the smaller ones, which are none the less diligent or beautiful. Just like abelias. These semi-evergreen, exceptionally evergreen shrubs are maintenance-free plants of high value owing to its profuse flowering.

Kaleidoscope^® is another novelty of the turn of the century. It drags attention thanks to its multicoloured foliage, but not only that. This abelia was found as a naturally occurring mutation of abelia x grandiflora “Little Richard” by nurseryman Randall Dale Lindsey in North Carolina, USA, in 1997. A single branch with coloured leaves on originally purely green plant made him try and propagate it and as further test proved the characteristics stable he had it patented a few years later, in 2005, under US plant patent No. 16,988.

Kaleidoscope^® abelia has small, ovate, pointed, glossy leaves that have green centres surrounded by various shades of yellow throughout the season that changes to salmon pink, bronze and even burgundy red in winter while the best show takes place in the autumn when the top of the plant turns fiery orange and red.

Flowers appear in mid summer and are small, white, trumpet-shaped, and slightly fragrant. New branches in the spring are bright red and beautifully contrast with fresh yellow leaves. The plant makes a low, very compact and dense shrub so pruning is not necessary. Reduced size makes it ideal for even the smallest of gardens and it makes a great container plant.

Abelias are soil tolerant but will thrive in good, moist well-drained soil, preferably acidic for best leaf colour. Find them a location in full sun and, if possible, sheltered from drying winds. Fully hardy to -23°C (USDA zone 6), or -29°C if grown as a perennial.

Last update 10-12-2009