Chinese lanterns are extremely popular plants – their botanical name is abutilon and they’re closely related to plants such as hibiscus and hollyhock.
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The flowers on abutilon are really delightful, but you need to stop and observe them, go up close and have a good look when the flowers appear.
The Chinese lanterns usually produce most of their flowers during the spring, but will flower on and off until the end of autumn. That’s a lot of flowers, when you think about it. Chinese lanterns grow fast and most varieties will reach between 1-2 metres. The common shrub form Abutilon x hybridum is available in a number of colours – white, yellow, orange, salmon, pink and red.
Chinese lanterns grow well in most parts of Australia and will tolerate some frost. However, for the very cold areas they’re better in pots, then you can move them into a protected position when winter arrives. In the garden, they grow best in an open and sunny location – protection from strong winds is imperative. Another popular abutilon is the Brazilian bell flower, Abutilon megapotamicum.
This plant grows to about 2 metres and has more of a trailing habit than the other Chinese lanterns.
The flowers tend to be more bell shaped than lantern shaped and are delicate and extremely pretty.
Pruning is important with abutilon: young specimens need regular tip pruning to stop the plants becoming leggy. Each year, you need to cut the plant back by at least one-third, this is best done at the end of winter.
If at any time the plant looks straggly, prune it again.
Chinese lanterns can be a real feature in the garden if they’re well taken care of and pruned regularly.
DIARY
Wodonga TAFE has a few horticultural short courses coming up. Workshops (half day each) in basic propagation and pruning on May 14. For more information. call Wodonga TAFE on 1300 698 233.
