It’s Favorite Shrub time again so the anti-shrub among you can just click off to somewhere else (you know who you are, Amy. Some of us have a lot of garden to fill.)
Next up is the Kolkwitzia amabalis or beautybush (not to be confused with beautyberry). I admit it’s wild and scruffy-looking enough to be mistaken for honeysuckle shrub – not a flattering comparison – but I love it for its old-fashioned good looks and other qualifies, like:
It grows really fast, up to 15′ x 10′, but can fit into a smaller space by pruning or, as I’ve done here, by tying it up to a wall or fence. That’s a bit of cheating I indulge in lots cuz I hate to see plants crowding each other or lying on the ground. But scraggly or not, wouldn’t you rather see it than the toolshed? It’s shown here at its mid-spring peak, of course, because I’m a show-off kind of gardener. Heather in Houston nailed me on that score all right.
Finally, because I’m also a naturegirl, I admire the beautybush because it’s a perfect nesting shrub for my wild birds (feed ‘em enough and you start thinking they’re yours, not Nature’s). So I recommend this shrub from China as a wildlife-friendly plant, despite the fact that it’s one of those exotics, nonnatives, immigrants – pick a word. See, nobody ever wants to tell you about the good nonnatives, but I will. Gardeners need as many choices as we can get, dammit.
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I think it is great if you have the room to plant a nice large shrub and this is a good choice. It’s a wonder that any garden centers still carry big shrubs like this!
Hey Susan. I second that — I love beautybush. It grew on the property line just outside our kitchen window when I was a child and always made the task of washing dishes a teensy bit more enjoyable!
Stunning! You are definitely THE source for great-looking white flowered shrubs. Does it need full sun? I want to replace an annoying holly that’s in part shade. Would it work?
Michele, my sources at Google are telling me this needs full sun or light shade to do its best. In this situation it gets about 4 hours a day and seems happy enough.
More importantly, I’m glad to see you have an open mind toward large white-flowering shurbs despite your quirky but persistent anti-spirea stance.
OK, the only reason I happened to end up here today is that I just bought a Beauty Bush. I have memories of them belonging to my mother when I was a child. I’m wondering if anyone here can help me identify a bush…It has been in my neighbor’s yard for all of the 30 years we’ve lived here (don’t tell me to ask the neighbor…he’s deaf and he’s 93 years old!). It is approximately 6′ tall and it blossoms profusely in a pretty shade of pink in the first couple of weeks of May here in New Hampshire. It has the most beautiful fragrance…spicy and wonderful. My mother called the bush “Swamp Pink,” but that’s not what I’m seeing when I punch this is online. I took a sample to a local garden center last year and he told us what was (but neither of us can remember). I seem to think it was some sort of azalea because I was surprised…I’ve never had much luck with azaleas. Help!!! I’ve seen Swamp Azalea, that’s not it…any ideas?
Thanks so much.
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