‘Little Richard’ Dwarf Abelia
Abelia grandiflora ‘Little Richard’
Plant Details
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 6a-9b Find Your Zone
Plant Type: Flowering Evergreen Shrub (May be semi-deciduous to deciduous in zone 6 and 7)
Height at Maturity: 2-3′
Width at Maturity: 3′
Spacing: 2.5-3′ for solid hedge; 3′ to touch but maintain plants form; 6 feet for space between plants
Growth Habit / Form: Dense Rounded Mound
Growth Rate: Moderate to Fast
Flower Color: White, Reddish sepals follow the flowers
Flower Size: Small, 0.5 to 1″
Flowering Period: Late Spring through Summer and into Fall!
Flower Type: Single tubular flowers in 3-inch clusters
Fragrant Flowers: yes
Foliage Color: Medium Green, Orange and Pink tinting during fall and winter
Fragrant Foliage: No
Berries: No
Berry Color: na
Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun, Morning Sun with Dappled or Afternoon Shade, Morning Shade with Evening Sun
Water Needs: Average, low when established
Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sand, Silt
Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well Drained; tolerates dry periods when established
Soil pH: 5.0 – 7.5
Maintenance / Care: Low
Attracts: Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Visual Attention
Resistances: Deer – more info, Disease, Drought (when established), Dry Soil, Heat, Insect
Description
Abelia is alphabetically the first on many lists of shrubs, however, in our opinion, it’s also at or very near the very top of our list for use in landscape design. Abelias have everything expert designers look for in a shrub: color and texture, adaptability, drought tolerance, hardiness and longevity, and no serious pest or disease problems, which makes it one of our favorite flowering shrubs of all time for use in landscape borders and home foundation plantings. ‘Little Richard’ forms a compact rounded mound to maybe 3 feet tall and wide that becomes covered with abundant clusters of tubular, fragrant white flowers which are irresistible to butterflies and hummingbirds. The summer flowers are followed by attractive red sepals that keep the color going well into fall. Lustrous green foliage becomes orange and pink tinted with the arrival of cooler temperatures in fall. A fine flowering shrub that will not disappoint!
Landscape & Garden Uses
The Little Richard Abelia has many uses in the landscape. Its smaller size of about 3 feet tall and wide makes it ideal for use as an accent or specimen in smaller spaces and containers, or in groupings or as a low colorful hedge in landscape borders and home foundation plantings. It’s the perfect choice for underplanting small to mid-size trees such as crape myrtle or taller growing upright Japanese maples or Chaste Tree (Vitex). A fine addition to butterfly and hummingbingbord gardens, white theme gardens and the Xeriscape (low water needs).
How To Measure Total Square Feet Of A Planting Area
How Many Plants Needed To Cover A Planting Area?
Growing Preferences
Little Richard Abelia is exceptionally easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average fertility and full sun to part shade. It is exceptionally tolerant of dry soil conditions when established however constantly wet soils can be problematic. So choose a well-drained site. The best flowering and foliage color occur in full to mostly sun, however plants will bloom well with only 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight or lightly filtered all-day sun. Maintenance is minimal. We prune our Abelia for shaping purposes one time a year in late winter or early spring. That said, plants respond very well to shearing for hedges or formal shapes. It is evergreen in the southern zones where it grows and might be semi-deciduous to deciduous some winters in zones 6 and 7.
Helpful Articles
Click on the link below to find helpful advice from our experts that’ll have you planting and growing Abelia like the pros.
How To Plant & Care For Abelia Shrubs
Plant Long & Prosper!
Meet The Wilson Brothers & Staff
Questions? Contact Us
The Little Richards are alive and flourishing here in southwest Michigan. I’ve now planted
four varieties of abelia—Rose Creek, Kaleidoscope, Little Richard and Edward Goucher.
The Little Richards have proven to be perhaps the stoutest of the lot, and these little
gems have beautiful and prolific blooms.—————————————-Thanks for the kind words and awesome review! We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
four varieties of abelia—Rose Creek, Kaleidoscope, Little Richard and Edward Goucher.
The Little Richards have proven to be perhaps the stoutest of the lot, and these little
gems have beautiful and prolific blooms.—————————————-Thanks for the kind words and awesome review! We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
Thank you for great packaging and shipment of the Rose Creek Abelia. Am glad to have found it on your website as it was not available at any nurseries locally. Can hardly wait for it to bloom.————————————-We are so glad you are pleased with your purchase! Thanks for the great review! Beth | WBG 🙂
I live in Zone 8b and lost my entire foundation bedding to a fungus, Entomosporium. 1 bed had 18 Indian Hawthorn and the other Red Tip Photenias. Plants I have had when I lived in Zone 9a with never an issue. After determining that the roots of the plants host the fungus and it would happen every year I decided to pull them all and start over. Needless to say, I was heartbroken. I have read & researched more about plants and decided to purchase the Rose Creek Abelia but Wilson Bros only had 12 plants at the 6 pack price. I sent an email and explained all of the above and jokingly asked them if they could “find” more since I needed 18 plants. Imagine my surprise when hours later I received an email from one of the owners, Brent Wilson! Brent shared his experience of losing Indian Hawthorn and promptly found me 6 more at the reduced 6 pack price! WOW That was the moment I knew that Wilson Bros will be my new 1st stop for trees and plants. The plants were packaged extremely well & moist on arrival. They all look great and I couldn’t be more impressed by the awesome customer service!——————————————-Thanks for the photo. Brent is the best! We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the great review and the kind words! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
I am grateful to have discovered this online outlet. The abelias and all of the plants I’ve ordered have exceeded my expectations for online ordering of plants. All are healthier than those purchased locally. They are shipped and delivered promptly. And — best of all — I love being able to do basic gardening research for each plant so that I know its zone, dimensions, needs, etc. A great source for quality plants. Thank you.—————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the great review! Thanks for the kind words! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
We found the perfect spot in our garden for this sweet scrub. It arrived beautifully package and healthy.———————————-We are so glad you are pleased with your purchase! Thanks for the great review! Beth | WBG 🙂
Plant arrived in full bloom and the smell when I opened the box was heavenly. Very healthy, good-sized shrub – I haven’t mail-ordered plants in a long time and I’m very impressed with what I’m receiving from Wilson Bros.——————————-Hi Julie, Thanks so much for taking the time to provide your review of the Rose Creek Dwarf Abelia. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the kind words!! 🙂
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens































Reviews
There are no reviews yet.