Comments on: The Lowly, Old-Fashioned Weigela

By: Paula Coughlin

Paula Coughlin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:45:35 +0000

Ok thanks! By “after flowering” do you mean the first set of blooms in the spring or wait until the second phase in late June or early July? I see it worded differently on different sites, so any advice would be appreciated

By: susan harris

susan harris — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:44:39 +0000

Brand new weigelas don’t need to be pruned at all, for at least a few years. Oh, maybe remove the lowest limbs that are lying on the ground, but that’s it. Then once they’re full grown, I’d start the renewal pruning every year immediately after flowering – which means removing the tallest and oldest 1/3 of the stems to the ground.

By: Paula Coughlin

Paula Coughlin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:02:48 +0000

Hi- I just purchased three of the carnaval wiegelas and transplanted them from thier containers about three weeks ago. They have bloomed once and one of them has a few more blooms, but basically they are just leaves right now. All the websites say to prune these annually, but do I prune them if they are just planted this year? If so, does anyone have a site they recommend to guide me how to prune them? Thanks so much.

By: Kathy, Washington Gardener

Kathy, Washington Gardener — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:52:17 +0000

I am trialing “My Monet’ and another new mini-wiegela with a light-green foilage edge (My Monet has white edging) – so far they are very small – like the size of a marigold plant – but otherwise doing fine in part shade, zone 7, and no extra coddling. I will give them a little time to see if they fill out.

By: Layanee

Layanee — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:03:14 +0000

Weigelas have come a long way since our grandmother’s day! Now available in so many sizes and foliage colors there is something for everyone! Even that new little one called ‘My Monet’ which I don’t have yet. Has anyone else given it a try? Expensive for a little plant but it is a Proven Winner trademark. Thanks for the reminder Susan, I have to go to the nursery now!

By: Sylvana

Sylvana — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:14:06 +0000

Spirea also do well with aggressive pruning. I didn’t figure this out until I sent my son out to rake one year and he lopped one back to just 6 inches above the ground on one side so he could get under it to rake. I nearly died since it was a 5 year old shrub and just getting to the size that I needed it to be. Even though I was fairly certain that he had killed it, I told him to prune the rest of it to make it even and we would see what would happen. I was so impressed with the results that I started having him prune down all my others too!
I haven’t tried this with my weigelas, but I might start next year.