Choisya 'Ap cg001' LITTLE BEE^®

We were so thrilled to hear that there was a hardy version of such an unusual and beautiful shrub like evergreen Mexican orange. It is an interspecific hybrid between choisya ternata with wider leaves that is often cultivated in South Europe and in England, and hardier choisya dumosa var. arizonica which has narrow leaves and comes from Arizona and Texas where, though used to hot weather, it withstands all sorts of unpleasant conditions including the ability to grow in elevations up to some 1200m. Choisya name was chosen in honour of Swiss botanist Jacques Denis Choisy (1799-1859), and the hybrid was named choisya x dewitteana (official approval of new botanical name pending). It was bred by Peter More from England and the very first variety from 1989 was called Aztec Pearl.

LITTLE BEE^® is a dwarf variety of hybrid Mexican orange, bred by Alan Postill from the Hillier Nurseries from 2021. It is a short growing, compact, evergreen shrub with sweetly fragrant flowers. It produces a profusion of simple, star-shaped, pure white, and very fragrant flowers with yellow stamens from late April until early June. Their perfume is very similar to orange flowers (hence its name Mexican orange or Mexican blossom). We have not experienced a second flush of flowers in late summer which is common for many green-leaved choisyas.

The leaves are evergreen, palmately divided into 3-7, narrow, medium green leaflets which release a tempting, spicy scent when touched, but do not consume them., they are inedible The plant forms a bushy, globular to dome-shaped shrub perfectly suited to small borders with other low-growing shrubs of different leaf shapes and colours or conifers and is often used to margin pathways. As every evergreen shrub it continuously drops small amounts of old foliage which is replaced by new leaves so quickly and in such profusion that the shrub always keeps its full body. LITTLE BEE^® choisya is too young to tell its ultimate size in maturity, we can only assume it will be around one meter in both height and width. Protected by European PBR patent No. EU 64745 from 2023.

The hybrid was sold predominantly in England, where it was among the top ten best selling plants for 20 years, later in the Netherlands and France, and now in Italy where it battles with the original c. ternata. Only recently it was introduced to slightly colder parts of Europe as it proved to be hardier than older varieties of cherry laurels and photinias which had a problem during the cold winter of 2010, and a few more afterwards. So far it survived -23°C without any damage which makes it hardy to USDA zone 6.

Grow choisya the same way as a sun loving rhododendron. It has shallow and delicate root system which must never stand in wet ground. Drainage is crucial for its happy life, and so is acid, fertile soil for its healthy look. We highly recommend using mycorrhiza that will help the plant establish sooner and provide enough nutrients. As it flowers from mid spring (on last year’s wood) pruning of any kind should happen immediately after flowering in early summer. If you follow these instructions, you can enjoy a gorgeous plant for many years without virtually any maintenance.

Last update 03-10-2023