ABUTILON x hybridum “Victor Reiter”

Beautiful form of Abutilon x hybridum, a perennial and evergreen bush, dense and regular habit and rapid growth: at its best development, it can grow up to 2 m tall and large. Woody and branched from the base, it has numerous stiff and erect stems, which growing divide repeatedly, giving the bush a regular and rounded appearance. The leaves, thin and glabrous, conspicuously petiolate and alternate, ovate-lanceolate or in the shape of a tricuspid, with serrated margins and acute apexes, are dark green. Between late spring and autumn, the plant adorns itself, mainly on the apical parts of the branches, with very showy flowers with a large corolla composed of only five orange petals: in the central part, there is a large pistil fused with numerous stamens.

It prefers bright and sunny locations, but, where summer afternoons can be hot, it prefers a location in partial shade. While adapting to any type of soil, it grows better in rich and humid ones, as long as they are well drained and permeable. It does not tolerate long periods of drought and it benefits of constant wetting in summer. It tolerates minimum winter temperatures only a few degrees below zero, therefore, where cold weather is intense and prolonged, choose a sheltered position, or mulch its foot with leaves and straw or protect it in a cool and bright environment in winter. In autumn, sometimes in spring, with the risk of delaying its flowering, we can take care of this plant and, eliminating dry, broken, old and cluttered branches, shorten the various stems to allow a more compact growth and a more generous production of flowers. It can be grown with great satisfaction in large pots or containers on terraces and balconies; in the open ground, it can create original and colored borders, arranging various specimens in succession. Even a single plant in any corner of the garden has an equally captivating effect due to its abundant and colorful flowering.