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Deciduous Flowering Shrubs - Part 3

© Marge Talt

Old-fashioned plants are survivors. In most cases, they're the plants who require very little from the gardener to keep on growing, thriving and blooming. Some of them are considered too mundane for consideration by the cognoscente because they have only one main feature of interest - and probably because they are easy to grow! It's for the very features that are denigrated by the plant snob set that I value some of the old-fashioned plants I grow, among them is Weigela.

Weigela

Weigela, pronounced wy-GEE-la, have no common name. They are members of the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, which has about twelve genera and three hundred thirty species, including Lonicera (honeysuckle), Abelia and Kolkwitzia. Elderberries (Sambucus) and Viburnum used to be included in this family, but recent investigations indicate that 'Viburnum' is more closely related to Sambucus and that both should be removed from Caprifoliaceae. I find that most listings of the genera in this family still include these two, however, which extends the total genera in the family to fifteen with four hundred species.

There are some sixteen species of Weigela, native to Eastern Asia, including Weigela middendorffiana, the only one with yellow flowers. Most flowers range from white, fading to pink, to pink to red. Of these species, W. florida, the first brought to England from China by Robert Fortune in 1845, is the one best represented in nurseries and gardens. There are numerous cultivars of W. florida. There are also quite a few crosses with various species, some of whom are not quite as hardy as others.

W. florida var. venusta , along with W. middendorffiana are the hardiest, according to Wyman - from USDA zones 4 to 10 (or 3 - 8, depending on reference) - with all others hardy to USDA zone 5, except W. hortensis, which is hardy only to USDA zone 6.

All are easy to please as far as soil is concerned, so long as it is well-drained. In colder areas, expect some winter die back that will need pruning in early spring.

My Weigela

Of the many plants available, I have only two - one I bought and one given to me - and both are the same, Weigela 'Foliis Purpureis', which received a RHS AGM (Award of Garden Merit). This is a W. florida form that, unlike the species, tops out at about four feet (1.21 m). The species will get to be six to nine feet high by nine to twelve feet around (1.82 - 2.74 x 2.74 -3.65 m).

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