Abelia xgrandiflora Cultivars - Canyon Creek and others
2016 Theodore Klein Plant Award Winners
Abelia xgrandiflora is an attractive plant with glossy foliage hence the common name Glossy Abelia. The size of the original is 3 feet to 6 feet tall by similar width. In west Kentucky they seem to grow about 3 feet with surprisingly vigorous sucker shoots that if not removed would result in a shrub 8-10 feet tall. The first readily available and noted dwarf variegated foliage cultivar was 'Mardi Gras' which tended to have a very low growth habit and reversions. Rick Crowder, Hawksridge Nursery, Hickory, NC made selections with no reversions and a habit of about 2-3 feet tall and twice as wide. There are many new cultivars that need to be further evealuated in Kentucky. Plants people are always on the lokout for new Abelia cultivars because of the desire to have plants with showy foliage, fragrant colorful flowers, and plants that don't throw vigorous wild shoots requiring maintenance. 'Canyon Creek' has performed very well in Kentucky. It's A. chinensis heritage shows up in the clustered fragrant pink bloom and then retention of off-white following peak bloom remnant’s. It attracts pollinators and butterflies throughout it's summer-fall flowering as do all A. xgrandifloras.