Abelia Edward Goucher

Abelia 'Edward Goucher', a little more compact than the Abelia grandiflora and remarkably floriferous, is also a hybrid variety more cold-resistant. This shrub, with its delicate branches and foliage, usually evergreen, takes on a lovely bronze-copper to violet hue in cold weather, and offers a long and abundant flowering. Its small bell-shaped flowers in lilac-pink colour give way to beautiful rust-coloured bracts that persist for a long time on the plant. Easy to grow and undemanding, attractive for a good part of the year, it will bring lightness and softness to the garden. Perfect in a small hedge, it will be enhanced in the centre of a bed of perennials or evergreen shrubs.

Edward Goucher is an excellent horticultural creation dating back to 1911. This compact shrub from the Caprifoliaceae family comes from the axil x grandiflora, a vigorous, undemanding and hardy species, and from the axil schumannii (synonym longituba), with less significant development. Growing quite fast, 'Edward Goucher' will reach approximately 1.80 m (5ft 11in) in height and 1.50m (4ft 11in) in width, depending on the growing conditions. Its habit is generally rounded and bushy from the base, slightly wider than it is tall. This abelia offers a long, slightly fragrant flowering that usually starts at the end of August and continues until the first frosts, when few shrubs are still in bloom. Its countless small funnel-shaped corollas, 2cm (0.8in) wide, with pearly white throats and lilac-pink reverses, are gathered in paniculate clusters at the axil of the leaves on the current year's branches. As the flowers fade, they are replaced by beautiful rusty-coloured calyces, highly decorative on the autumn foliage. The slender and arching branches of the abelia bear small, pointed and glossy leaves, semi-evergreen to evergreen depending on the severity of the winter, light green in colour until summer. With the first cool nights, the foliage takes on a bronzed, violet or reddish hue and persists for a long time on the branch.

This hardy abelia is also very resistant to summer drought once established, making it suitable for many regions. It can be planted in groups with other shrubs, as a standalone specimen, or in a medium-sized hedge. You can also plant it in the centre of a bed of perennials or shrubs such as Baptisia, sage bushes and daylilies, as well as in a natural or pruned hedge. It can be paired with the Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Pink Cloud' in a flowering hedge, the Japanese Medlar 'Coppertone' in regions not too cold, Deutzia, Syringa microphylla 'Superba', bush roses with single flowers, or Buddleia alternifolia 'Argentea'.