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Kolkwitzia amabilis
This delightful shrub is another of Ernest Wilson's fine introductions from western China. Its common name, which describes it well, is Beauty Bush. Kolkwitzia amabilis should be planted much more than at present, although it is hugely popular in the United States.
Ernest Wilson collected for the famous Veitch nursery in Exeter from 1889 to 1902. His arrival in China was due to the worries of Augustine Henry, based at Ichang on the Yangtse, about the disappearing forest and flora in central China. Wilson found Kolkwitzia amabilis in western Hubei province between the headwaters of the Yangtse and Han rivers and introduced it to cultivation in 1901. It flowered for the first time in June 1910 at Veitch's Coombe Wood nursery and received an Award of Merit in 1923 for Nymans in Sussex.
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