Weigela

Weigela: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Broad, upright shrub of 1.5–3 m with arching branches.

Leaf

Opposite, oval, 5–10 cm, toothed.

Bark

Greyish-brown.

Flower

Trumpet-shaped pink, red or white flowers in May–June, sometimes a second flush.

Fruit

Small capsules.

Difference from common honeysuckle

It also has trumpet-shaped flowers, but common honeysuckle is a climber.

Flowering: May–June · Pruning: June–July

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Common honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum: a climber. Difference from common honeysuckle

Why grow it?

• Abundant flowers in May–June, sometimes with a second flush in summer.
• Easy and tough: grows in any ordinary garden soil, in sun or partial shade.
• Bumblebees and hummingbird hawk-moths come to the flowers.
• Varieties with purple, golden or variegated leaves, and compact forms for small gardens.

Weigela: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; it flowers best in the sun.
• Any ordinary garden soil that is neither too dry nor waterlogged.
• Allow 2 m width; compact varieties stay around 1 m.
• Lovely in a mixed border, as an informal flowering hedge or as a specimen.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

3 m tall, 2 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Mock orange: Flowers in June, white and fragrant, with or just after the weigela, and is also pruned after flowering.
• Deutzia: White or pink flowers at the same time, with the same pruning after flowering.
• English lavender: For the sunny front of the border; it flowers once the weigela has finished.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Suits the woodland edge or the light shade of: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Weigela: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant bare-root from November to March; container plants can go in later, except during frost or drought.
2. Dig a wide planting hole and mix some compost into the soil.
3. Plant at the same depth as before and firm the soil.
4. Water generously after planting, and during dry spells in the first year.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; rarely needed after that.

Feeding

A little compost in spring is enough.

Mulching

A layer of compost or leaves around the base keeps the soil moist.

Second flush

Pruning after the first flowering produces new shoots, on which some varieties flower again in summer.

Tip: For a small garden, choose a compact variety: then you don’t have to prune to keep it small.

Weigela: when to prune it?

Pruning months: June–July.

When: After flowering (June–July).

How:

• Every year, saw a few of the oldest stems off at the base; young stems flower best.
• Cut flowered stems back to a strong, young side shoot.
• Rejuvenate an old, bare shrub over three years: remove a third of the old stems each year.

Caution: Don’t prune in winter or early spring: it flowers on last year’s wood, so you would cut off the flower buds.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Softwood cuttings

In June–July, take 10–15 cm cuttings from young, non-flowering shoots and put them in moist cutting compost; they root easily.

Hardwood cuttings

In winter, push lengths of one-year-old wood of about 20 cm two-thirds into the ground.

Weigela: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• In winter, the flower buds for May are already on last year’s branches: leave the shrub alone then.

Diseases and pests

• Few flowers: Too much shade, or pruning at the wrong time. From now on, prune straight after flowering.
• Bare base: A shrub that is never pruned only flowers at the top. Rejuvenate it by removing old stems at the base.
• Aphids: Aphids on the young shoots in spring. Let ladybirds and tits do their work.
• Drought: Drooping leaves with brown edges in hot summers. Water and mulch the soil.

Through the year

• March: Compost around the base.
• April: Flower buds swell; no more pruning.
• May: Flowering begins: bumblebees on the flowers.
• June: Full flower; prune straight after flowering.
• July: Last pruning; take softwood cuttings.
• August: Sometimes a second flush; water in dry spells.
• November: Planting and hardwood cuttings.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Easy flowering shrub for sun and partial shade.

For wildlife

Bumblebees visit the flowers.

Good for wildlife

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Did you know?

• An easy garden shrub; bumblebees and even hummingbird hawk-moths visit the flowers.
• It is named after the German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel (18th century).
• In some varieties the flowers change colour while open, so light and dark flowers hang side by side.
• The genus is named after the German scientist Christian Ehrenfried von Weigel.
• Weigela comes from East Asia. The Scottish plant hunter Robert Fortune found Weigela florida in China in the mid-19th century and sent it to England.