Abeliophyllum distichum is not marketed with a clever name or catchy tag. It's not sold with a lot of fanfare, and it's not on the hot list of some consumer gardening pro. Too bad -- it's a simple yet beautiful shrub that heralds the spring season with brilliant white flowers in March. The flower period continues through April.

Despite its common name, white forsythia, it's not a forsythia. The flower buds are more cold tolerant than true forsythias. A. distichum is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 5-8, but "flower buds can be injured in very cold winters," according to the Mount Holyoke College Botanic Garden in South Hadley, Mass., where it's one of the garden's featured plants.

This deciduous shrub grows 5 feet high and 4 feet wide. It grows an average of 12-18 inches per year.

The mildly fragrant flowers appear on bare stems. Green foliage emerges after flowering, and the shrub fades into the background. Fall foliage is purple and dark; bare stems provide some winter interest.

In the nursery

A. distichum caught the eye of Bill Hendricks, president of Klyn Nurseries in Perry, Ohio, about 40 years ago.

"It's unexpected in the garden because it blooms so early," he said. "The fragrant flowers are a little subtlety that help change the design of the garden."

Klyn grows A. distichum in 3-gallon containers, but it's suited for 5-gallon production as well, he said.

Hendricks loves the plant, but doesn't grow a lot of it.

"It's just one of those plants that has been around a long time but hasn't made it as a mainstream plant," he said. "One of the reasons is because it blooms so early -- before the garden centers really get going with spring sales."

Hendricks markets it as a "designer" plant, rather than a landscape plant.

"But it's definitely a plant I'd like to see popularized," he said.

Prune it once or twice during production to produce a better-looking container plant. It's a clean plant with no pest or disease problems. And it's easily propagated by softwood cuttings in June or July, he said.

"It easily fits into our production schedule and grows right along with many other flowering shrubs," he said.

In the landscape

A. distichum grows best in well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. It should be pruned immediately after flowering because flower buds for the following year will form on the current year's growth, according to the Missouri Botanic Garden. To keep the shrub from looking scraggly, either cut the oldest one-third of the branches down to the base of the plant annually or cut the entire plant down to the ground every three to five years.

Stems can be used for cut flowers, and the stems may be forced into flower during winter. It's drought tolerant once established.

-- Kelli Rodda

SPECIFICS:
Name: Abeliophyllum distichum.
Common name: White forsythia.
Description: Multistemmed, arched shrub that produces white to pink-tinged flowers in early spring before foliage emerges.
Hardiness: USDA Hardiness Zones 5-8.
Propagation: By softwood cuttings in summer.
For more: Mount Holyoke College Botanic Garden, (413) 538-116; www.mtholyoke.edu. Klyn Nurseries, (800) 860-8104; www.klynnurseries.com.

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© 2007 Branch-Smith Publishing