Abelia plants
Abelia plants are fabulous flowering shrubs with an upright, arching growth habit, best known for their long lasting, fragrant, tubular blooms produced in clusters from June to October and attractive to bees, butterflies, hoverflies and other beneficial insects. These are produced above attractive small, lance-shaped foliage in shades from glossy green to yellow, often with hints of rose, bronze, orange and burgundy. Low maintenance and easy to grow, abelia is a relative of honeysuckle and comprises 30 deciduous and evergreen varieties native to Eastern Asia and Mexico. Abelia is most commonly used as a flowering shrub in ornamental borders but can also be used as foundation plants, stand-alone focal points, container centre-piece or low blooming hedge to delineate different parts of the garden. Abelia are particularly helpful for bringing colour and interest to your borders as the temperatures start to drop in the autumn when other plants tend to fade.