What weigela is and where it comes from
Weigela is a deciduous flowering shrub in the honeysuckle family, and nearly everything sold under the name is a selection of one Asian species. It is native to Asia, most records putting it in Japan, Korea and northern China, and the genus is counted as anywhere between six and 38 species. The garden plant came west through a single collection: Robert Fortune found it in north China, Korea and Manchuria, it was imported to England in 1845, and it reached gardeners in the mid-1800s. The name honors Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, a German professor who lived from 1748 to 1831. The species name florida points at the flowering habit and has nothing to do with the state: it means freely flowering, glossed elsewhere as profusely flowering, and the plant has no connection with Florida at all.
The pronunciation trips people up out loud. It is why-GEE-la, with the weight on the middle syllable, written elsewhere as wy-JEE-la. The shrub is bought by cultivar name far more than by species name, and the catalog is deep: counts of named selections run from over 150 to at least 170, spanning flower colors, variegated and reddish leaves, and compact forms. One older shrub is sometimes taken for it in gardens, beautybush, which carries similarly shaped flowers that are smaller, pinkish, held in clusters, marked yellow in the throat and carried on very hairy stalks. Size, bloom pattern and cold tolerance all move with the cultivar, because the two ends of that catalog are a plant that fits under a window and a plant that buries it.
What the flowers and the leaves look like
The flowers are funnels, carried singly or several together in the leaf axils along the arching stems, and they run white through pink to rose red depending on the selection. Each one is small, to 1.25 inches long on the species, so the display depends on how many open at once, and on a mature bush that means every stem lined with them. Yellow and peach flowered cultivars exist as well, and on one selection the flowers open white and age through pink to red as they mature. The leaves are elliptic to obovate, to 4.5 inches long with toothed margins, and they hold good color right through the growing season. Autumn does nothing for them: fall color is insignificant.
That leaf record explains the market. Weigela is sold in variegated, purple, standard green and yellow foliage as much as in flower colors, and the colored leaf selections carry the shrub through the long stretch of the year when it is out of bloom. The habit underneath is dense and arching, eventually sweeping the ground, on a plant described as tough and easy to grow that becomes rangy unless it is pruned. Rangy is the word that sends people out with shears at the wrong time of year, so the shape of the plant and the timing of the cut are the same subject.
Weigela flowers on old wood, and how to tell such shrubs apart
Weigela carries next spring's flower buds on wood that is already standing by the end of summer, so a cut made after that takes the flowers away with the stems. Spring blooming plants set their flower buds in the late summer to fall period, weigela blooms on old wood, and late pruning reduces next year's flowers. Cultivar records repeat the same line at both ends of the size range: a dwarf listed at 1 to 2 feet blooms on old wood, so pruning at any other time affects the next season's blooms, and a large selection is best pruned and shaped after flowering for the same reason. The safe window opens as the flowers fade. The instruction is to prune immediately after flowering, as soon after flowering as possible, which leaves the plant time to recover and set plenty of flowers for the next year.
Stated on its own the rule sounds like a commandment. It is more useful as a way of telling two kinds of shrub apart, because they stand in the same border and take opposite dates. Pruning tables sort flowering shrubs by the wood they flower on: weigela sits among the spring flowering plants pruned after flowering because they produce flowers on the previous season's growth, beside forsythia, while the same table puts crape myrtle and butterfly bush among the summer flowering plants pruned before spring growth begins, because those flower on the current season's growth. The British pruning groups split them the same way, group 2 for shrubs that flower in spring or early summer on strong stems developed the previous year, where weigela and forsythia sit together, and group 6 for late summer and autumn shrubs that flower at the ends of the current season's growth and are cut in early to mid spring. Butterfly bush is the cleanest case of the opposite habit: it blooms on the new season's growth during the growing season, and it is pruned hard before growth begins in late February to early March, taken back by half or almost to the ground each season.
The rule softens at the edges, and the softening is worth knowing. Weigela blooms primarily from buds that formed on last year's growth, so winter dieback reduces flowering, and it does bloom sporadically from the current season's growth as well, which is what pruning right after the spring flowers fade encourages. A gardening helpline answer describes the shrub plainly as blooming on both old and new wood. None of that moves the pruning date, because the heavy spring flush is the one at stake. It does explain the scattered flowers that appear in late summer on plants nobody touched, and it is the mechanism the reblooming series are built on.
When to prune weigela and how hard it can be cut
The window opens as the flowers fade and closes as the buds for next spring are set in late summer. Inside it, the cut that does the work is a thinning cut at the base. Weigela is a cane producing plant with multiple branches coming from the soil line, so to reduce size while keeping the graceful weeping form, take some of the older canes out at the soil line, up to one third of the canes if the plant needs it. Shearing the outside of the bush into a box or a ball ruins the effect the shrub is grown for. One third is also the ceiling repeated for thinning and shaping work, never removing more than a third of the plant at a time, and for renewal on an older shrub, up to a third of the oldest and thickest stems taken right down to the ground each year, which encourages new stems from the roots.
Whether a severe cut can kill the shrub is a question the search suggestions ask outright, and the pruning guidance does not treat it as fatal. Renewal pruning, cutting an overgrown shrub back to within 6 to 12 inches of ground level, is timed before spring growth begins, since a severe cut in late fall or midwinter may encourage new growth that cold can then injure. There is a three year version for multi stemmed shrubs that keeps something in the bed while it renews: one third of the old mature stems at the first pruning, half of the remaining old stems the following year, and the rest of the old wood in the third. Neglected cane growth shrubs can also be rejuvenated by cutting all canes back as close to the ground as possible in early spring, and the price named for that is that season's flowers, which may be sacrificed against a plant returned to its normal size and shape. Cutting a shrub to ground level so it regenerates new stems from the base is a standard renovation technique. A gardener whose weigela had the bark chewed off almost to the ground by rabbits one winter watched it come back from the roots the following year.
Why a healthy looking weigela carries no flowers
Check the calendar first, then the light, then last winter. The first thing to rule out is a cut made after the buds were set, because weigela blooms on old wood and late pruning reduces next year's flowers; a plant pruned as soon after flowering as possible has the time to recover and set plenty of flowers for the next year. Shade is second. Full sun brings the best flowering and the best foliage color, though the plant tolerates some light shade or sun dappled shade, and a site in full shade affects flowering; the planting recommendation runs from part to full sun, meaning six hours or more of direct sun. Third is a hard cut taken deliberately to bring an overgrown shrub back, where that season's flowers may be sacrificed by design. Fourth is the plant itself: at least one dwarf selection is described as not a prolific flower producer next to other weigelas, so a small shrub flowering thinly may be doing exactly what it was bred to do.
The cause that gets missed is the weather. Weigela blooms primarily from buds that formed on last year's growth, so winter dieback reduces flowering, and winter injury has a pattern of its own: tip dieback is common, stems die back to the crown or at least to the snowline depending on the severity of the winter, and a hit shrub may produce leaves and even flower buds and then die back in June. That sequence is the thing to watch for before reaching for the pruners. A shrub that leafs out evenly all over and simply carries nothing points back at the calendar or at the shade. A shrub that leafs out and then browns and collapses in patches in early summer points at the cold. The one live gardening thread on the subject put a no bloom year down to winter dieback or late frost damage. Dead branches can be pruned back at any time, cutting to a healthy leafy branch just above the collar of bark where the branch is attached.
Work out which one it is
Five checks in the order that settles most cases. Stop at the first one that fits the shrub in front of you.
Once blooming or reblooming, and what the second flush is
A traditional weigela gives one heavy flush at the end of spring and a thin scatter of flowers afterward. The main flush on the species comes at the end of spring, with often some rebloom in late summer, entered in structured bloom fields as two separate windows, May to June and July to August, and described in prose as a sparse and scattered repeat bloom often occurring in mid to late summer. The mechanism is the one that governs the pruning date. The spring flush comes off buds formed on last year's growth, and the later flowers come sporadically off the current season's growth, which prompt pruning after the spring flowers fade encourages. That is why a shrub cut in the right week sometimes hands back a scatter of flowers later in the summer.
The reblooming series are sold on that second wave, and the wording each source uses for it is the thing to read. One reblooming cultivar produces a floriferous bloom of lipstick red flowers in May followed by subsequent waves of rebloom from mid summer to frost, listed elsewhere as blooming in spring and repeat blooming in late summer or early fall, with the same series available in pink, wine and white. The traditional plants are written up in quieter language: a large red cultivar occasionally reblooms in late summer to early fall with a lesser abundance of flowers, a purple leaved one blooms in spring and sporadically throughout the summer, and a dwarf blooms in late spring with scattered repeat bloom occurring throughout summer. Sparse, scattered, sporadic and occasional are the words attached to the second bloom on the older plants; waves of rebloom to frost is the phrase attached to the series bred for it. Both groups are bought for the same heavy flush at the end of spring.
The three size classes, and the one that ends up under a window
Weigela cultivars are sold in three size classes, and the class decides where the plant can go: dwarf under 2 feet tall, medium at 2 to 4 feet, and large above 4 feet. The species itself sits past the top of that range and the published figures vary. One account gives it 8 to 10 feet tall and up to 12 feet wide, another 6 to 10 feet tall with a spread of 9 to 12 feet, a third 6 to 9 feet by 9 to 12 feet, and a fourth puts a specimen at 10 to 12 feet across. Across the genus, some weigelas reach up to 3 meters, about 10 feet, while recent breeding has introduced compact cultivars with a height and spread of 1.5 meters, 4 to 5 feet, or below. At the small end, one dwarf is listed at 1 to 2 feet tall and wide wanting 12 inches to 3 feet of space to plant into, and another at only 12 to 18 inches tall and as wide. A large cultivar asks for 6 to 12 feet of space.
The published numbers disagree about the same named plant, which is why a size on a tag is worth checking twice. NC State's plant toolbox gives 'Red Prince' a height and width of 6 to 9 feet, a shrub that can grow to 9 feet either way, while the Royal Horticultural Society lists the same cultivar at 1 to 1.5 meters, roughly 3 to 5 feet. The gap runs the other way on Wine and Roses, patented under the cultivar name 'Alexandra': 4 to 5 feet tall with a slightly larger spread in one American record, 5 feet by 5 feet in a second, and 1.5 to 2.5 meters in the British listing. A shrub bought as a four foot mound and settling in at nine is the one that gets shortened every autumn to keep the window clear, and the buds for the next spring are already sitting on it by then.
Seven weigelas told apart by size and bloom pattern
Seven selections that turn up on plant tags, sorted by the size each one is given, with the flower and foliage colors and what the second bloom is described as. The series a plant is sold under decides none of this.
Where to plant weigela and what the ground has to do
Give it an open site with six hours or more of direct sun and ground that drains. The soil type matters less than what that soil does with water. Clay, loam and sandy ground are all listed as plantable, with good drainage the condition attached to all three, and the species is described as easily grown in average, medium moisture, well drained soil in full sun and tolerant of clay. A compact selection carries the same tolerance further, to a range of soil types, air pollution and clay soil. The plainest version of the requirement drops soil type altogether: no special soil requirements, just good drainage, reasonable moisture and plenty of sun. That is a short list of demands, and the one item on it that a gardener cannot fix after planting day is the drainage.
Tolerant of clay and happy in wet clay are two different claims, and only the first is on record. The failure case is documented: a weigela that died back and rotted at the base was read as a possible soil problem, because the shrub is normally tough, and poor drainage or heavy clay was the first thing named. The same answer lists what it does want, well drained soil, full sun, and water when the ground is dry, without soil that stays too wet. Broken up clay that drains is the ground the tolerance covers. A low corner that holds water after every storm is the ground the rot case points at. A raised bed or a slope answers that problem at planting time, which is the moment it is cheapest to answer.
The zone range, and the two selections that move it
Zone 4 through 8b, and for once the sources agree. The same span appears as 4 to 8 in two structured hardiness fields, and as hardy to zone 4 with no upper limit stated in a fourth listing. Four separate records, one number at the cold end. Two named selections move the edges, and both move them by a single step. A dwarf selection is listed at 5a through 8b, warmer at the cold end than the species baseline, and a reblooming cultivar is listed to zone 9, past the species ceiling at the warm end. Both figures belong to cultivars, which is the pattern worth carrying to the garden center: the number printed beside a cultivar name describes the plant in the pot, and the species number describes the kind.
The cold end is where that range is doing real work. Weigela is described as only marginally hardy in some hardiness zones, and after one harsh winter a number of readers reported the same dieback symptoms on their shrubs that year. A spring of leaves and no flowers in a northern garden is a hardiness question before it is a pruning question. At the other end, the 8b figure is published as covering the majority of South Carolina, which is as far south as the agreed range goes before the cultivar exception takes over.
Yellow and browning leaves, and the three things behind them
Three different problems land on the same leaf, and up close they look nothing alike. The yellowing the record ties to an insect comes from a heavy oystershell scale load. Light to moderate infestations show little or no symptoms, while severe infestations can cause chlorotic, stunted foliage, and heavy ones can bring dieback and cracked bark with them. The insect itself sits on the bark: elongated, oyster shell shaped, light to dark brown, 1/10 to 1/8 inch long. That makes it a stem diagnosis, and running a thumb down an older cane settles it faster than studying the leaf. The second pattern is spotting. Small, round, depressed spots that may be brown, black or translucent appear on the leaves, and the dead tissue can fall out and leave a shot hole effect, which reads at arm's length as a leaf coming apart.
The third pattern is scorch, and it belongs to the cultivars the market is built on. Varieties with colored or variegated leaves need enough light to develop that color and can scorch in hot sun, so the browning turns up at the edges of the brightest leaves while a plain green plant beside them shows nothing. A few more possibilities are worth ruling out before any spray reaches the shrub. Yellowing and leaf drop are what a long running gardening question archive answers as an insect problem, which points back at the scale on the bark. And browning that arrives in June on a shrub that leafed out normally in the spring points back at last winter, since a damaged weigela can produce leaves and even flower buds before dying back. Ground that stays wet and heavy carries a different sign again: where a weigela rotted at the base, poor drainage or heavy clay was the first thing suspected.
Weigela problems, most asked about first
Weigela carries markedly less complaint traffic online than the other flowers surveyed beside it. Five problems hold what there is, starting with the one the search questions keep returning to.
Symptoms: full healthy foliage, no buds, on a shrub that flowered last year. The recurring questions are why it will not bloom and how to rejuvenate it. Management: date the last cut before anything else, since the buds for spring are set in the late summer to fall period.
Symptoms: normal leafing in spring, then branches browning and dying back weeks after the flowers were due. Management: cut dead wood back to a healthy leafy branch just above the bark collar, which can be done at any time of year.
Symptoms: pale leaves falling in quantity through summer, answered in a long running question archive as an insect problem. Management: check the older bark for scale, since a severe infestation is what the diagnostic record ties to chlorotic, stunted foliage.
Symptoms: small, round, depressed spots, brown, black or translucent, and holes where the dead tissue fell out. Management: control is aimed at the nymphs, with ultrafine horticultural oil, insecticidal soap or malathion among the compounds registered for this pest in Connecticut.
Symptoms: elongated brown scales on the bark, 1/10 to 1/8 inch long. Management: heavy infestations can bring dieback and cracked bark, while light to moderate ones show little or no symptoms, so the count on the stems decides how urgent this is.
The pests weigela actually gets
The pest commonly attached to weigela in general garden writing does not appear in the plant pest record for the shrub. That record documents the fourlined plant bug, oystershell scale, flea beetles, mealybugs and leaf and bud eelworms, and it does not name aphids. Flea beetles and mealybugs are listed as weigela pests, and leaf and bud eelworm issues are noted as possible on a dwarf selection. The insect with a full case file is the fourlined plant bug, Poecilocapsus lineatus, named as weigela's documented insect problem by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. The bugs often injure the tender terminal leaves and lay eggs in the soft stems. Eggs hatch about the middle of May, and the young bugs suck sap from the tender leaves. They molt five times and reach maturity about the middle of June, winged and nearly 1/3 inch long, the body yellow and marked lengthwise with four black stripes alternating with three green. There is one generation each year.
The damage runs on that same calendar. Injury to the leaves begins as sunken areas around the punctures, which later appear as circular transparent spots and finally as circular holes, so holes found in July are the record of feeding that happened weeks earlier. Control is aimed at the nymphs, which can be managed with ultrafine horticultural oil, insecticidal soap or malathion, all of them registered for this pest in Connecticut, and imidacloprid applied as a soil drench is listed for season long systemic control. Disease is the quieter half of the picture. Once established, weigela generally is disease free, no particular disease or pest problems are recorded for the species, and a dwarf cultivar entry reports none serious either.
How much feeding weigela needs
One line covers feeding, and it is conditional: use slow release fertilizer for shrubs when needed. Nothing else in the sourced record asks for a feeding program, and what sits beside that line is a list of things the shrub does not require, no special soil requirements, just good drainage, reasonable moisture and plenty of sun. Two words in the instruction do the work, when needed, which puts the decision on the ground a particular shrub is standing in. A slow release shrub fertilizer is the product named, and no rate, season or formula is given with it, which is a fair reflection of how little the plant asks for once it is established.
Hummingbirds, deer, and what a resistance rating means
The flower shape is the reason the birds come. Weigela's flowers are tubular, and tubular flowers are what draw hummingbirds, with a named reblooming cultivar given as the example. The same point is stated plainly for the species, and a cultivar record lists hummingbirds and butterflies together under its wildlife value. It is the same equipment that honeysuckle carries, the family weigela belongs to, which is why the two shrubs get worked by the same birds.
Deer resistance is where the records argue with themselves. One guide states flatly that weigela is deer resistant, and two cultivar pages list deer under resistance to challenges. The description text on one of those same pages warns that the shrub can be damaged by deer. Both lines belong there: the rating describes what deer usually leave alone, and it stops short of a promise, which is why a weigela is better placed where a browsed shrub would not empty the bed. For rabbits there is no resistance rating at all, only an account of a weigela whose bark was chewed off almost to the ground one winter and which grew back from the roots the following year.
Hedges, borders and the foundation bed
The listed uses are borders, property margins and foundations, hedge or summer screen, and a large cultivar's design features run through accent, barrier, foundation planting, hedge, screen, privacy and specimen. Screen is the use that suits the habit, and the spacing that goes with it is on record: a large selection is given 6 feet to 12 feet of available space to plant into. A row set at that spacing closes into one arching mass by the time the plants are mature, which is what an informal flowering screen is, and it is a different object from a clipped hedge.
The clipped version is the one that costs flowers. Flowering hedges grown formally should be sheared after they have bloomed, because more frequent shearing reduces the number of blooms, which puts a weigela hedge on one shearing a year if the flowers matter. The other honest point is the calendar. The heavy flush comes at the end of spring and the rest of the season is foliage, so the shrub earns a foundation bed or a border place when something beside it is coming into flower as it finishes, which is the ordinary arithmetic of a border built from different flowering plants.
Weigela in a container
Only the dwarf class fits a pot, and the figures say how small that is. A dwarf selection is given as 1 to 1.5 feet tall and the same across, and 12 inches to 3 feet is the space it is listed as needing, which is what puts it in containers and small spaces. The same compact plant is credited with tolerating a range of soil types, air pollution and clay soil, which is the profile a deck or a paved yard asks for. The requirement that does not relax in a pot is drainage, since well drained is the condition attached to every soil type on the list. Winter is the part to think through before buying, because weigela is deciduous, a pot holds a fraction of the soil a bed does, and the hardiness figures published for this shrub describe plants standing in the ground.
Cuttings, and the patents on the named plants
Weigela propagates readily by stem cuttings, and the timing given for it is summer, taking softwood cuttings while the new growth is still flexible. That is the whole of the published method, and the plants a gardener most wants to copy are the ones carrying patent numbers. My Monet's U.S. Plant Patent PP16,824 was issued on July 18, 2006, and Sonic Bloom was listed as U.S. Plant Patent Applied For. The number is printed in the catalog entry, and it is the thing to read before taking cuttings from a named selection.
How much sun weigela needs
Six hours or more of direct sun, published as part to full sun. Weigela is also described as happy in sun or light, dappled shade, and the two statements agree on where the line falls, an open site with the shade at its light end. Light does a second job on the modern selections. Varieties with colored or variegated leaves need enough light to develop that color and can scorch in hot sun, which is the narrow band a burgundy or cream edged plant is asking for.
Watering a weigela
Water regularly until the plant is established, and after that water during drought conditions. The instruction that goes with it is just as short: well drained soil, full sun, and water when it is dry, without soil that stays too wet. Medium moisture is the level named for the species in its growing conditions, and the three lines together describe watering by condition. A new plant is kept damp while the roots go out into the surrounding ground. An established one is watered when a dry spell earns it, and left alone the rest of the year, since the same records that ask for moisture ask harder for drainage.
What to expect, season by season
The first year, a settled year, and the point where an old shrub needs renewing.
The first year is roots. Water regularly until the plant is established, and expect the buds for its first full spring to be set on the wood it makes in the late summer to fall period. Pests are not the first year's worry: an established weigela is generally disease free and no particular disease or pest problems are recorded for the species, so the work is watering and a site that drains.
A settled year runs on two calendars at once. The heavy flush comes at the end of spring and the pruning window opens as it fades. The insect calendar runs beside it: fourlined plant bug eggs hatch about the middle of May and the young bugs feed on the tender leaves, reaching maturity about the middle of June, with one generation in the year. June is also the month a shrub hurt by the winter gives itself away, leafing out and even setting flower buds before dying back.
The mature shrub is a size problem before it is anything else. The large class runs over 4 feet and the species behind the named plants goes to 8 to 10 feet tall and up to 12 feet wide, dense and arching and eventually sweeping the ground. That is the point where renewal starts, up to a third of the oldest, thickest stems taken down to the ground each year to bring new stems from the roots, on a cycle that repeats for as long as the shrub stands.
Four things people repeat about weigela
Each of these is common, and each one is answered by something already on the record for this shrub.
The myth: A weigela that skips a year was pruned wrong.
The reality: Sometimes, and sometimes it was the winter. Some degree of winter dieback is not unusual in some regions in any given year, and cold injury can also leave the plant more open to infectious disease. A shrub that leafs out and then dies back in June fits the winter injury pattern.
The myth: Feed it and the flowers come back.
The reality: One feeding line exists for weigela and it is conditional, slow release shrub fertilizer when needed. A second listing asks only for good drainage, reasonable moisture and plenty of sun, and sets no other requirement in the soil. Nothing in the sourced record ties feeding to bloom in either direction.
The myth: Aphids are the pest to watch for.
The reality: Aphids appear nowhere in the pest record for this shrub. The insect that does carry a full case file there is the fourlined plant bug, one generation a year, hatching about the middle of May.
The myth: Deer leave weigela alone.
The reality: Deer resistance is what the ratings say, and the description text on a cultivar page carrying that rating also warns the shrub can be damaged by deer. A resistance rating records what deer usually pass over while better food is standing.
FAQ
Do I cut back weigela in the fall?
No. The buds for next spring are set in the late summer to fall period, so an autumn cut carries them off with the stems, and late pruning reduces next year's flowers. The window is immediately after the flowers fade.
Does weigela like sun or shade?
Sun. The published requirement is part to full sun, meaning six hours or more of direct sun, and the shrub is described as happy in sun or light, dappled shade. A site in full shade affects flowering.
Why isn't my weigela bush blooming?
Four causes are on record: a cut made after the buds were set, too much shade, a deliberate hard cut that may cost that season's flowers, and winter dieback, since the spring flush comes off buds formed on last year's growth.
Can a severe pruning kill a weigela shrub?
The record treats it as survivable. Cutting all canes back close to the ground in early spring is described as an accepted technique that may cost that season's flowers, and a shrub chewed almost to the ground by rabbits grew back from the roots the following year.
How many times a year does weigela bloom?
Once heavily, with a light second showing. The main flush comes at the end of spring, with often some rebloom in late summer, entered as two windows, May to June and July to August. On the species the repeat bloom is described as sparse and scattered.
What are the downsides of weigela?
Fall color is insignificant, the shrub becomes rangy unless it is pruned, and the heavy flush occupies a few weeks at the end of spring, leaving the leaves to carry the rest of the year.
What type of fertilizer is best for weigela plants?
Slow release fertilizer for shrubs, used when needed. That is the only feeding instruction in the sourced record, which otherwise asks for good drainage, reasonable moisture and plenty of sun.
Is weigela poisonous to cats and dogs?
A search of the national toxic and non toxic plant list for weigela returns no match. A missing entry is not a clearance, so an unlisted plant is best treated as unknown and kept out of reach of a pet that chews.
Do weigela bushes spread?
They widen. The species is given a spread of 9 to 12 feet on a dense, arching habit that eventually reaches the ground, and the space to plant listed for a large cultivar is 6 feet to 12 feet.
How do you propagate weigela?
By cuttings. Weigela propagates readily by stem cuttings, and the timing given is summer, taking softwood cuttings. Named selections carry plant patents, including one issued on July 18, 2006.
Interesting tips
- The native range printed on a tag is a compression. The full record for the species runs to Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, northern and south central China, Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East, the Korean Peninsula and Kyushu in Japan, and one landscape plants database narrows it to Japan alone, against the northern China, Korea and Japan given by three others.
- An old catalog or an inherited plant label may file the same shrub under another name: Weigela florida is also classified under the synonym Weigela praecox, the old fashioned weigela.
- The disease record splits. Weigela is called generally disease free once established, while one helpline answer calls it susceptible to fungal diseases and pairs earlier season fungicide with garden hygiene, clearing diseased leaves, and the better air movement that pruning creates.
Related Guides & Flowers
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The same missing flowers on a different shrub, traced back to the buds a late cut takes off.
Flowers for hummingbirds
Other plants with the tubular flowers hummingbirds work, for a bed built around the same visitors.
Deer resistant flowers
What deer usually pass over, and how much weight a resistance rating carries in a hard winter.
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