Abelia Sweet Emotion Blaze™

A member of the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Shrubs, Abelia Sweet Emotion Blaze™ is a deciduous shrub that grows to a mature size of 5 to 6 feet tall and wide and blooms in spring, setting abundant clusters of bicolor pink and white, pollinator-friendly flowers on old wood, attracting tons of bees and butterflies. Wonderfully fragrant, the flowers emit the spicy-sweet scent of jasmine, which will waft on the breeze in the garden or perfume a room from a vase. But its foliage transition in fall may be its best feature, as the lush, glossy green foliage takes on lovely shades of yellow, orange, and red.

An Abelia mosanensis variety, commonly called abelia or fragrant abelia, Sweet Emotion Blaze has superior branching and an improved upright habit. This elegant abelia is a great option for a specimen in a garden bed or border, and it makes a great thriller in a mixed container garden. Mass planted, it makes a gorgeous flowering hedge.

Easy-care and cold hardy to Zone 4, Sweet Emotion Blaze abelia is happiest in a sunny location but will tolerate part shade. It thrives in average, moist, freely draining soil and benefits from an application of fertilizer in early spring. This fragrant abelia is drought tolerant and deer resistant.