Tropicals & Tender Perennials: variagated abutilon, 1 by jkom51

jkom51 wrote:
I love all the abutilons but probably 'Thompsonii' the best. It is a stunner in the garden and people literally stop in their tracks at the sight of it. The foliage is so showy that even when not in bloom it's a gorgeous specimen.

This photo was taken in February 2004 just before it started blooming. There are so few pictures of mature specimens I thought this might be helpful. It was planted from a 1-gallon container not quite two years ago. That's a 6' fence behind it, and a Vibernum tinus next to it.

They tend to sprawl out, so this is heavily staked to keep it from overwhelming the garden path next to it. The last two months have been fairly warm so it's put on another 6" of growth and is covered with blooms. They usually bloom for at least 6-8 months at a time, although my 'Nabob' seems ever-blooming.