Looking for a flowering shrub that blooms all summer, smells amazing, attracts pollinators, and basically takes care of itself? Abelia shrubs check every box! Colorful foliage, long bloom time, low maintenance, and impressive resilience in tough garden conditions.
If you want a shrub that truly earns its keep in the landscape, Abelia is your answer. With glossy broadleaved evergreens to semi-evergreen leaves, bell-shaped blooms from late spring to frost, and foliage that shifts color through the seasons, Abelia is a total landscape workhorse and a stunner to boot!
All About Abelia Shrubs
Native to Eastern Asia and parts of Southern North America, Abelia shrubs thrive in USDA Zones 6 through 9, where heat, humidity, and summer sun are the norm. The most popular and widely grown variety is Abelia x grandiflora or Glossy Abelia, but hybrid cultivars now come in a dazzling array of leaf colors, flower hues, and sizes.
What Makes Abelia So Special?
- Blooms from late spring through frost
- Sweetly fragrant flowers that resemble Honeysuckle
- Attracts pollinators and hummingbirds
- Evergreen or semi-evergreen foliage in warm zones
- Stunning fall color and colorful new growth
- Deer seldom bother these unless desperate, and rabbit-resistant
- Low-maintenance, pest-resistant, and disease-free
- Handles clay soil and drought, is water-wise, and handles high humidity!
- Thrives in sun or partial shade
- Works well in containers, hedges, slopes, or borders
How to Use Abelia in the Landscape
Abelia is a true design chameleon, looking fabulous whether formally pruned or grown naturally in a soft, arching form. Its long bloom period, colorful foliage, and compact size make it ideal for:
- Foundation plantings that won't block your windows
- Hedges and privacy screens
- Abelia are gorgeous mass plantings that create eye-catching, low-maintenance drifts
- Container gardens, planters, and patio accents
- Pollinator-friendly slopes and attract Hummingbirds
- Hard to mow hillsides and erosion control areas
- Backdrops for your landscape borders and garden beds
- Tidy shrubs that look great naturally
Nature Hills Nursery's Top Abelia Shrubs
Ready to add one (or a few!) of these beauties to your landscape? Here are some of the most popular and proven Abelia shrubs available at Nature Hills Nursery:
Rose Creek Abelia Bush
Glossy evergreen-to-semi-evergreen foliage with blush-pink new growth and clusters of white and soft pink blooms that appear all summer long. Compact, colorful, and a favorite of hummingbirds and butterflies!
- Mature size: 3-4 feet tall and wide
- Blooms: Summer through fall with lightly fragrant flowers
- Sun: Full sun to part shade
- Wildlife: Attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and pollinators
- Use: Excellent as a low hedge, border plant, or mass planting
Kaleidoscope Abelia
A true showstopper! This semi-evergreen shrub features dazzling variegated leaves that shift through green, gold, orange, and red with the seasons. Its compact, dense form makes it perfect for adding year-round color.
- Mature size: 2-3 feet tall, 3-4 feet wide
- Blooms: Soft white flowers in summer that continue into fall
- Sun: Full sun to part shade
- Foliage: Multicolored and ever-changing for four-season interest
- Use: Colorful borders, accent shrub, container planting
Pink Abelia Bush
Soft pink blooms cover this compact shrub from summer to frost, paired with glossy green leaves and a graceful, rounded form. A pollinator favorite that adds long-lasting charm to any garden.
- Mature size: 3-5 feet tall and wide
- Blooms: Summer through fall, long-lasting pink flowers
- Sun: Full sun to part shade
- Wildlife: Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love the blooms
- Use: Mass planting, foundation shrub, mixed perennial beds
Twist of Lime™ Abelia Bush
A fresh take on foliage color! Twist of Lime™ Abelia offers bright chartreuse and lime-green variegated leaves that transition to gold with cool weather, paired with clusters of fragrant white blooms in summer.
- Mature size: 3-4 feet tall and wide
- Blooms: Fragrant white flowers in summer through fall
- Sun: Full sun to part shade
- Foliage: Variegated lime, green, and gold for multi-season appeal
- Use: Containers, borders, foundation accents, small-space landscapes
How To Grow and Care For Abelia
- Zones: Best in USDA Zones 5-9
- Sun Needs: Full sun in cooler climates; afternoon shade is appreciated in hot southern zones
- Soil: Well-drained soil is ideal, but many varieties tolerate clay
- Watering: Regular watering during the first season; drought-tolerant once established. Provide winter watering to prevent these broadleaf evergreens from getting frost burn.
- Pruning: Light pruning in late winter or early spring to shape and remove old wood (blooms on new growth!)
- Mulch: Apply 3–4 inches of mulch in fall to protect roots and conserve moisture
- Deer & Pest Resistance: Naturally deer and rabbit-resistant and highly pest and disease-free
For an extra boost, plant with Nature Hills Root Booster at installation to support strong root development and lifelong health.
Abelia's Got It All!
From their sweetly scented blooms and vibrant, ever-changing foliage to their no-fuss attitude and toughness in tough conditions, Abelia shrubs are a landscape dream come true. Whether you're planting for pollinators, color, fragrance, or erosion control, there's an Abelia that can handle it, and look fabulous doing it.
No other shrub packs this much beauty, versatility, and performance into one easy-to-grow package. Abelia isn't just an accent; it's the finishing touch your garden has been waiting for!
Shop Abelia shrubs at Nature Hills Nursery today and add a blooming, colorful, and carefree powerhouse to your landscape!
Happy Planting!
