Chinese Lantern Pink Clouds

Chinese Lantern 'Pink Clouds' (Abutilon x hybridum 'Pink Clouds') is a fast, soft stemmed shrub that flowers for most of the year with almost no effort from you. It reaches about 2m tall and 1.5m wide within a couple of seasons, hanging pale pink bell flowers along arching stems that honeyeaters work through daily. Where you want colour and privacy quickly, few shrubs deliver more.

Why you'll love it

• It flowers almost continuously. The pendulous pink bells appear through the warmer months and often keep going into winter in mild districts.
• Fast enough to matter. Two metres inside two seasons, so it fills a bare corner or softens a new fence while slower shrubs are still deciding.
• Birds and pollinators use it heavily. Honeyeaters take the nectar, and bees and butterflies work the open flowers.
• Heat and humidity are fine. It handles hot summers and muggy coastal air without the leaf problems that trouble many flowering shrubs.

Where it works best

Informal screening. Plant 1m apart for a soft flowering screen. It will not give you a clipped formal hedge, but it fills a 2m gap faster than almost anything else in this size range.

Feature and border planting. A single plant makes a good mid layer between a tree canopy and low planting, and the arching habit suits an informal cottage style bed.

Pots and containers. A pot 400mm or wider suits it, and container growing naturally holds it closer to 1.2m. Water it properly, because the soft foliage wilts fast when a pot dries out.

Growing Chinese Lantern in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering, or part shade in hot inland gardens where afternoon sun scorches the leaves. It suits subtropical, warm temperate and cool temperate districts, and handles light frost only.

Soil. Free draining and reasonably fertile. Work compost through the bed at planting and keep 75mm of mulch over the roots, clear of the stems. It is not a plant for waterlogged ground.

Water and feed. It wants moderate, regular water rather than drought: a deep soak twice a week through the first summer, weekly after that in dry weather. A complete slow release fertiliser in early spring and again in mid summer keeps the flowering going.

Pruning. This is the job that matters. Cut back by up to a third in late winter to keep it dense, and tip prune through the growing season to encourage branching.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown in tube stock, which suits a plant that grows this quickly: a tube planted in spring is usually a substantial shrub by the following autumn, so paying for a larger pot buys you very little. Expect a young single stemmed plant with soft green growth.

The tube size is listed on backorder, so check availability before planning a row. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Soft growth can look tired after transit and recovers within a week or two. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse the full flowering plant range.
• See what else feeds the birds in bird attracting plants.
• Get more from the season with long lasting blooms in your garden.
• Compare alternatives in screening plants from 1m to 2m.

Common questions

How far apart do I plant it for a screen?

One metre apart in a single row. Tighter spacing does not close the screen faster and makes the lower stems shade out, which this plant is already prone to.

Why has mine gone leggy and bare at the bottom?

It has not been pruned hard enough. Cut back by a third in late winter, every year, and tip prune through summer. Left alone the plant puts everything into long arching stems.

Will it survive frost?

Light frost only. In cold districts it will burn back but usually reshoots from the base in spring. A warm sheltered wall makes the difference between damage and loss.