Abutilon hybridumChinese BellflowerFast, evergreen shrubsSometimes speed...

Abutilon hybridum

Chinese Bellflower

Fast, evergreen shrubs

Sometimes speed is everything, even in gardening. When there is a big hole in the landscape, a garden doesn’t look complete until something fills it, and a good choice would be an abutilon. In the rest of the country, these South American plants are grown indoors and are commonly called flowering maples because their leaves look like those of a maple, only softer.

In Southern California most gardeners call them by their botanical name, abutilon, with the “but” pronounced like butte . Few plants are as fast. A one-gallon plant can grow to five feet in a matter of months. From about six feet on they slow, but they can be eight or 10 feet tall--and as wide--after many years.

Should they grow too big, they can be cut back hard or just sheared, preferably in early summer as they put out the new year’s growth. At this time they recover quickly and will flower on schedule.

This timing is important, because abutilons flower most in the fall, winter and spring. In fact, there are flowers at almost any season, but they are spectacular in winter when little else competes.

There are many kinds and many colors, from pure reds and good pinks through apricot, yellow and a fine white. Very few are named, so it’s best to choose from plants in flower.

Look for the large bell-shaped flowers, because these generally come on the best-shaped bushes. Other abutilons with smaller or more narrow blossoms tend to be somewhat viny and are reluctant to become a shrub. One species, Abutilon megapotamicum , is especially viny, so much so that it’s best trained against a wall or fence.

For the balcony gardener, abutilons are sold in hanging baskets. This is a good way to enjoy the dangling bell-like flowers. These plants have been treated with a growth inhibitor so they’ll stay small for several years.

Abutilons like water, fertilizer and can grow in quite a bit of shade, as long as it’s not dark (in hot inland gardens, they require some shade). They also seem to like an occasional spritzing in summer after a hot day. It would be hard to find a more agreeable shrub, or one that flowers so much, with so much grace.