Once the azaleas , dogwoods and other early spring flowers have faded , weigelatakes over in the garden , filling the later springiness and early summertime days with delicate flower and interesting foliage . Part of the Banksia integrifolia house , weigela produces small-scale bunch of 1 - inch - long , pinkish or red flower with dark meat that seem to burst from the foliage . The blossom are tubular and a few assortment are fragrant .
Features
Weigela is view an old - fashioned shrub , popular in strait-laced garden of the belated nineteenth century . Many types have leaf in varying sunglasses of rich green . Some weigela , like Wine and Roses , sport centre - catching , purplish leafage that provides the staring background knowledge for the shrub ’s trumpet - same flowers . The pink or red flowers are sometimes tinged with white . Some varieties , like the compact Nana Variegata , have variegate leaf that improve the plant aesthetic appeal as a foliage plant . After the first mass inflorescence in late outflow , weigela sometimes place forth a few flowers into the summertime months .
Cultivation
Weigela can tolerate wakeful shade or mottled sunlight in the garden , but prime production will be reduced and may cease whole . The plant prefers to savor in full sunshine all day long . Unless you are set weigela mainly for its foliage , choose a web site in the garden that gets as much Sunday as potential . Most varieties of weigela can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 8 , though some variety , such as Weigela praecox , an Asian native , are intrepid in zones 5 through 8 , while Carnaval is hardy in zones 5 through 9 . Weigela prefers moist but not wet soil and tolerates a variety of soil types .
Maintenance
Weigela is easy to care for , demanding little in the way of tearing or fertilizer . The plant is largely undisturbed by pests or disease . Prune the bush immediately after flowering to keep its chassis and mastery growth both vertically and horizontally . Weigela flowers on sometime wood , so crop only dead Mrs. Henry Wood in the fall to promote new , vigorous growth in spring .
Uses
Weigela is often imbed in rows as a hedge , but shadow like Minuet may be used in borderline plantings or as institution works . Except for varieties breed to have more interesting foliage , common weigela ’s foliation is uninteresting alone and the shrubs may be best planted among evergreens to avoid somber spots in the garden .