Oh, I see you sitting over there, all smug and thinking you know who’s going to win this one. Well, hold onto your chair.
Kolkwitzia amabilis, the beautybush, is the only old skool foundation shrub I love that came with my house. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the species isn’t more popular today — I’ve only ever seen the cultivar ‘Pink Cloud’ for sale, very little at that. The only reason I can think of is that it doesn’t provide a long season of interest. That’s something we’ve come to demand more of plants, and rightly so, but there are more popular shrubs than I can shake a stick at that don’t provide seasonlong interest. What gives, trade? For some reason beautybush got the ax ’round these parts.
Why am I so keen on a one-season shrub anyway? It’s a good question. For my money, I think beautybush’s great founts of faintly bubble gum-scented pink flowers in spring (blooming now, actually) are hard to beat, I love its height, its vase shape, its peeling bark. From what I understand it grows quickly and works well for screen plantings, reaching monster status relatively quickly. I think you can prune it as much or as little as you want — it may get congested, but it will still bloom and screen just fine. Post-bloom, I think it blends into the tableau, unlike some other one-season shrubs we won’t mention that just sit there looking like butt.
Now, I also love Kolkwitzia Dream Catcher™, a Proven Winners introduction, though I’ve barely had it long enough for it to, um, prove itself a winner. Imagine the beautybush above, but with gold foliage, some tipped in orange, the shadier parts chartreuse. It’s an eye-catcher, that Dream Catcher™. I’ve seen two problems with it: as with many colored-foliage plants, it’s not as vigorous, and contrary to most gold plants, it NEEDS part shade to color correctly — in full sun, the usual spot for species Kolkwitzia, Dream Catcher™ may turn into crispy critters.
This is a PLUS, you say! MORE gold for shade! And yes! You’d be correct! But for some reason, though the species isn’t widely available, the fact that it’s best in sun pervades, and I saw more than one burnt Dream Catcher™ last year as a result.
This is year two for mine, and it was a transplant, so Dream Catcher™ may yet prove me wrong in the question of its vigor. Michelle G. gave it to me because she didn’t like that it grew in a weird zigzaggy way, but I did some selective pruning and guess what? This year we have six tall suckers a foot above the rest. If you want height, prune off that dinky bottom growth after the first year, and be patient!
In short, if you want quick cover for sun, plant the species. (Or ‘Pink Cloud,’ I guess.) If you want great color for shade, plant the cultivar.
Lowdown:
- COLOR, COLOR, COLOR: For the species, this is limited to spring, when it blooms. Delicate pink. For Dream Catcher™, there’s that plus gold foliage, though mine didn’t bloom this year. Too small, maybe?
- LIGHT: See above — species in sun, cultivar part shade.
- WATER: Established Kolkwitzias are drought tolerant plants.
- LOW MAINTENANCE: Eh… I say it’s up to you. The shrub can get congested and sucker, but it’ll still do its thing, and I don’t think it detracts from its appearance. If you plan not to prune, just be sure to plant it where it can get big.
- DESIGN TIP: Like Buddleia ‘Black Knight,’ plant it in a spot where you can enjoy that vase shape from above, like near an oft-passed second story window.
- FAMILY TREE: Kolkwitzia was formerly included in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but is now a member of the newish, smallish plant family Linnaeaceae. Others include the tiny perennial Linnaea, or Twinflower, and the shrubs Abelia and Dipelta.
I just wrote up Dream Catcher over on my Transatlantic Plantsman blog. http://url.ie/6d7z I think it’s superb - in spite of it not flwowering at all.
I grow both and the species is a much cleaner and healthier plant. You can prune it a lot or a little and it will still bloom and look nice. Yet again, Proven Winners has pushed a mediocre plant through it’s “testing” and proclaimed that they have another Winner! Dreamcatcher burns incredibly easy but really doesn’t do that well in shade either…very fickle flowering. Stick with the species…much better plant.
I actually like my DreamCatcher. It’s finished blooming now, and no, it doesn’t bloom heavily, but I love the color of the foliage and even the haphazard way it shoots out all over. Here’s mine, in its third year, just taken and not yet pruned:
Kokwitzia DreamCatcher
Thanks for your comments, guys!
@Graham: I agree wholeheartedly — Dream Catcher, when done right, is superb. I also agree with…
@Jake, in that I’ve seen some that looked out-and-out awful, and at very respectable nurseries! I do think, Jake, that it works best as a foliage plant, and in high, light shade/morning sun. That seems to be doing the ticket with mine.
@Kylee (and Graham, re: your blog post): I’m convinced those bits of foliage that shoot all over are what hold the plants back from getting taller. My species Kolkwitzia is 8 ft. tall and does the same thing. The vertical shoots are what grow up and up, and it produces more when I cut off those thin, lateral shoots. We’ll see!
A neighbour has planted it under a Norway maple and, now in its 2nd year, it still looks like a prostrate shrub. Nice foliage, just as you describe it, which works really well with their carpet of brilliant blue creeping Veronica underneath. It would be beautiful if it stayed that way. But I suspect the Kolkwitzia is going to explode next year and outgrow its space. Hasn’t bloomed yet. Jury still out here.
@Helen, it’s always nice to see you here! “Prostrate shrub” is EXACTLY the description I was looking for re: the smaller Dream Catchers. If it grows under Norway maple, that’s definitely another selling point. (Read your post about Norway maple in Toronto a while ago, BTW.) Sounds nice with the Veronica.
My sister Helen pointed out to me two of these shrubs in our neighbourhood in full rosy bloom. Really quite spectacular. Strange it has gone out of favour. But perhaps like Bridalwreath Spirea, it’s simply old fashioned and forgotten, one day to be rediscovered? I do like the name, it’s one of those that is fun to say: KOLL - QUITZZZ - eee-YAH!
[...] June 5, 2010 Kolkwitzia amabilis - an under estimated ‘Beauty Bush’ Posted by Lesley under Design Bites, Now YOU Have A Go!, Reviews of Gardens and Shows, The Planty Stuff Leave a Comment The other day as I updated myself on the blogs I follow, I came across a post by Andrew Keys on his entertaining and informative blog spot called ‘Garden Smackdown’: Plant Review Cage Match: Kolkwitzia [...]
Andrew,
I’m with you…not quite sure why Kolkwitzia isn’t more widely grown. I planted Dream Catcher a few years ago in my garden and am still waiting for it to really shine. I got it as a ‘freebie’ from a mail order catalog so it was teeny-tiny when planted and I think it may have been planted a bit too deep initially. I raised it up just a little and it took off the second year. This is it’s third spring in my garden and I can definitely see a glimmer of greatness, although no flowers yet. The foliage is so colorful and I love the wild arching stems so I can forgive the lack of flowers… for now.
I’m late to the conversation, but let me add my praise for ‘Dreamcatcher.’ My hubby mowed it off by accident last year because of where I had planted it (it really WAS an accident). I was very annoyed, but it is rejuvenating rather nicely this spring and doesn’t seem too much the worse for its wear. I have it planted in shade where it does glow beautifully.
@Sarah: I get both Battersbys on one post! I love that! Funny you mention the name, I’ve discussed that exact thing on multiple occasions on Twitter, but I think I forgot to mention it in this post. Kolkwitzia! (Gesundheit.)
@Debbie: Glad to hear you’re on the Kolkwitzia bandwagon too, and that your little Dream Catcher is doing well!
@Jodi: See, this says to me this plant is one tough cookie! “Glow” is a good term for what it does in the shade too. I wish I could capture how mine glows on film, but then I guess it might not be as cool if I could.
I just got a dreamcatcher, as I also felt this was an underused bush. Thanks for the first hand info on it from everyone! I much prefer that over a salesperson’s comments. Interesting to hear about a preference for the species version over the pink cloud and dreamcatcher. When I bought it, I thought it would stay small, so that is one shock that I had.
I propagate and sell bush cuttings, so considered Beautybush carefully before getting ( I now have two). The trend I see is that people have smaller yards. If they come up with a 4 ft beautybush, I think it would be more popular.