Abelia shrubs are one of those old fashioned plants that became popular because of interesting foliage, showy flowers, reliable performance and simple abelia care. Learn how to grow abelia in your landscape for these characteristics. Newer cultivars of the glossy abelia plant provide a range of colors and forms. Abelia shrubs, Abelia grandiflora, have attractive foliage, which partially accounts for their longtime use in the landscape. The evergreen abelia has red foliage throughout the summer, becoming even deeper and more brilliant in autumn through winter. Flowers offer several bursts of bloom from spring to fall, with clusters of fragrant and frilly pink and white tubular flowers. In colder areas of the country, the glossy abelia plant is considered semi-evergreen, as it may lose half its leaves in cold winters.