ABC Wednesday
March 27th, 2013

The letter is K

Not the easiest letter when you are looking for something botanical that begins with K

Here is Kalkwitzia Amabilis

 

most commonly known as a Beauty Bush

 

Amabilis means 'lovely' and it is a most apt descriptive name

 

A Chinese shrub of the Honeysuckle family

the bush was twice discovered in Central China, - once by the Jesuit

Missionary Giuseppe Giraldi in Shensi, and then in western

Hubei province by E.H. 'Chinese' Wilson, who was collecting for Veitch Nurseries.

 

It was named for Richard Kolkwitz, a professor of botany in Berlin.

 

The shrub was first grown in the Veitch Nurseries in 1901

and became very popular in the U.S. following World War 1,

almost a defining shrub in American gardens between the World Wars.

 

The flowers are pinkish, with yellow throats and very fragrant.

It is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.

The fruit is bristly, which proves, I guess, that you can't have everything!

 

In full sun the shrub will grow 8-10 feet tall,  requiring a fair amount of space

as the branches are very arching.

It is propogated by soft wood cuttings, and I would love to find one of these

lovely shrubs and try a soft wood cutting!  I would put it in the corner of the back garden

and it could have all the space it wanted.........

 

Here is a close-up of the beautiful bell shaped flowers,

which grow in pairs.

 

 

For more K's go here, to ABC Wednesday

and thank you to all who work with this wonderful meme.