Weigela florida Seeds | Weigela
LATIN NAME: Weigela florida
COMMON NAME: Weigela
Plant Profile
Weigela florida, better known as Weigela, is a generous, easy shrub, native to Japan and Asia. Upright, spreading shrub carries oval, green leaves, and clusters of showy, funnel-shaped flowers open all along arching branches through late spring and early summer, with odd repeat of flowers later on. Flowers are a fine early food for bees and the hummingbirds. It is a generous, easy shrub of sunny garden. Gardeners value it precisely for this blend of qualities.
Science & Biotechnology
Like other members of the Weigela group, Weigela florida draws steady attention from botanists and plant breeders, who value the genus both as a subject of research and as a source of garden-worthy material. Weigela has a steady place in plant science, and it has been studied for its showy, funnel-shaped flowers and its long history in the garden. Interest from collectors and breeders has never lapsed, and good seed continues to circulate.
Uses & Benefits
Beyond its ornamental appeal, Weigela has the practical versatility that makes a plant worth growing from seed year after year. Weigela is grown for showy flowers, and arching branches of pink, red or white trumpet flowers are a fine, generous display in late spring. Nectar-rich flowers pull in bees and hummingbirds, and shrub is a dependable, easy addition to border, foundation planting and mixed shrub bed. It is a generous, easy shrub of sunny garden. Thereafter it wants only the ordinary attentions any garden plant receives.
Weigelas are hummingbird-loving fountains of late-spring bloom, easy and forgiving; purely ornamental.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Weigela under ordinary good conditions. Sow on the surface of a gritty, well-drained mix, cover lightly with fine compost, and maintain gentle, even moisture in a sunny position. When the young plants are big enough to handle, space them into pots or a nursery row and let them size up before their final move.
Our Take
It forms a generous, easy shrub, which makes spacing and siting straightforward. The only critical period is germination, when the compost must stay evenly moist.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Weigela: