Weigela florida seed

LATIN NAME: Weigela florida

COMMON NAME: Weigela

Weigela is the easy, generous, trumpet-flowered shrub of the cool gardens, and its arching branches of the pink, red or white, funnel-shaped flowers are one of the fine sights of the late spring. The upright, spreading shrub carries the oval, green leaves, and the clusters of the showy, funnel-shaped flowers open all along the arching branches through the late spring and the early summer, with the odd repeat of the flowers later on. The flowers are a fine early food for the bees and the hummingbirds. It is a generous, easy shrub of the sunny garden.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Weigela has a steady place in the plant science, and it has been studied for its showy, funnel-shaped flowers and its long history in the garden. The arching habit and the way the flowers open all along the branches have been studied closely, and the plant keeps showing up in the work on the flowering shrubs of the cool gardens. The breeding of the garden forms, from the deep pinks and the reds to the whites and the gold-leaved kinds, is well documented in the horticultural journals, so the growing methods are reliable. The nectar-rich flowers have also drawn a line of the research into the pollinator shrubs.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Weigela is grown for the showy flowers, and the arching branches of the pink, red or white trumpet flowers are a fine, generous display in the late spring. The nectar-rich flowers pull in the bees and the hummingbirds, and the shrub is a dependable, easy addition to the border, the foundation planting and the mixed shrub bed. The oval leaves give a fine, healthy green through the season, and the shrub has been written about in the horticultural papers for its easy ways and its long flowering. It is a generous, easy shrub of the sunny garden.

The weigela has been a favourite of the cool gardens for a very long time, and the many garden forms, from the deep pinks and the reds to the whites and the gold-leaved kinds, are the result of a long line of careful breeding. The arching branches give the shrub a soft, relaxed habit, and the trumpet flowers open all along them in the late spring. It is one of the most dependable of the flowering shrubs, asking only for the sun and the ordinary soil.

The weigela is a fine, easy shrub for the foundation planting and the mixed border, and the arching branches of the trumpet flowers are a generous display in the late spring. The shrub grows on fast and asks for very little, so it is a dependable, rewarding choice for the new garden.

To grow the weigela from seed, soak the small, dry seeds in warm water for a few hours, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of moist, free-draining soil, keep them in a bright, open spot and water gently. The seedlings come up within a few weeks and grow on steadily, so pot them on as they fill the pots. With the sun and the ordinary, well-drained soil, the arching branches of the trumpet flowers will be there in a couple of seasons.

Weigela Florida
Also known as the Old Fashioned Weigela

Weigela is a deciduous shrub and a very attractive plant when in full bloom. Flowers will adorn the ends of the long stems and will range from white, soft pink, to dark vivid magenta. The flower show is long lasting and the plant usually blooms from May to June, and will also re-bloom during the summer. It has very attractive textured foliage making it a beautiful plant to be used as a focal point in the landscape. This plant can be used as an accent, border, hedge, and for massing. If attracting hummingbirds is a desire, plant a Weigela, they are drawn to the tubular flowers.

Weigela grows best in full sun to light shaded areas, is very hardy to zone 5 and has few pests to contend with. The Weigela is a low maintenance plant which requires some pruning to keep the plant from becoming scraggly. It can grow 6′-9′ feet tall and 9′-12′ feet wide. There is usually some annual die back because of winter injury which will need to be pruned off for a more attractive plant. Weigela is tolerant of urban settings and urban pollution. Native to Japan and Asia.