Has anyone else noticed a problem with abelia this miserable spring? I have a small one out of which I mistakenly pruned some "dead" sections a bit during the warm spell in Jan-Feb we had in southern coastal BC, now it all of it is looking lifeless and dry. Similarly a small variety of Ceonothus, with lighter blue blooms and a drooping, close-to-ground habit, did not survive the winter either, I don't believe, now with all-brown foliage and dry-looking stems.
Yes, Ron, I think it will! I did the "scratch test" on a stem, and it is green in there. It was small to start with and had been moved around twice and then returned to its favoured spot, so the plant has had a difficult time. It really likes dappled shade/sun, and some moisture, and it picks up the light on its glossy leaves and glistens at the end of a pathway through a full glass front door window on late summer afternoons, nice to look at as one has a cup of tea after a day of gardening ... Had not thrived in dry shade.
The key to keep your Ceonothos from frost burn, is burlap and more burlap... I had mine covered in a comforter and it survived unscathed... less a few leaves.... you may wait until the spring season actually arrives, for any signs of growth.
Abelia are characteristic of open sunny places even in the presumably favorable climates of their native habitats. Dry + shade would be two unsuitable conditions at the same time. Rather than wanting some shade yours would probably love being put near a hot south wall - as long as the soil was kept sufficiently moist and fertile. Glossy abelia in particular has been mentioned by more than one reference growing twice as big (10'-12' tall) in warm southerly climates than it does here in the north. John and Carol Grant (Garden Design Illustrated, Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens) put abelias in their bronzy green foliage, full-sun-and-moist-soil group of broad-leaved evergreens.
If I had a hot south wall I would be in seventh heaven here. Would have to move, should have purchased something with the right gardening location, darn it -- there are other pluses here, though, should the climate ever turn really hot the way it was threatening to do some while back [is global warming still out there?]. Good, the abelia at least now is going to survive I think and I find it really does like a bit of dappled shade and then looks glossier, the blooms a bit subtler, and it doesn't take on that xeriscaping look which I have not learned to love. Yet another shrub book to read, thanks... have just added Hall and Hall's Gardening in the Pacific Northwest to my shelves...
Follow-up note Hardy fuchsias, and abelia, returning to life! [April 19th]. Very small leaf buds on latter, on brittle-looking stems, and leaf/stem buds coming low down on the pruned-back hulks of hardy fuchsias.
