So you have decided to plant weigela, good choice! With an excellent colorful display of flowers in spring and in terms of beauty not many ornamental plants can rival it, it is a great addition to the garden. It has a dense foliage in various shades of green. It is hardy and easy to grow. It is tolerant to different soil conditions and can be grown in full sun or semi-shade condition. Weigela is a vigorous grower and if left on its own, it can grow up to 8 ft tall. So, pruning is essential to keep its growth in check. Also pruning helps in improving overall health of the plant and improves the flowering which makes it look more beautiful.
Weigela plants come in a wide variety of colors, such as black, gold, pink, white, and purple. As previously mentioned, this plant still thrives in partial or shaded areas but this plant blooms the best in full sunlight. Its flowers are appealing to hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. What makes this plant really appealing is its flowers and its colorful leaves. Despite having a lot of beauty, it is by no means a fragile plant and this plant is not difficult to grow at all.
Pruning weigela is simple–if you have the right information. There is a whole list of things to take care when pruning weigela. But you don’t have to worry about that because we have compiled this simple guide on how to prune weigela to help make pruning easy for everyone. Read on to get all the information needed for pruning.
Tips To Prune Weigela Effectively:
Use of Clean Sharp Shears:
Cleaning the shears is a must if you want to protect the plant from potential diseases. The use of sharp shears is also recommended as rough shears make uneven cuts that may collect water. This water can then promote infections and diseases. A good practice is to wipe the shears with disinfectant before and after the pruning. Not using shears and instead plucking your plant will cause a tear in some parts of the plant that you didn’t intend to cut off, and this causes some severe damage to your plant.
Pro Tip:
Use Hand pruners for stems up to 3/4 inch thick, loppers for up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and a pruning saw for thick stems at the base.
When to Prune Weigela:
Weigela is pruned right after it flowers in early summer. The flowering of weigela usually lasts from late spring to early summer. Weigela blooms on one-year-old wood. Pruning after the flowering ensures that you are not cutting any flowering wood before it has the chance to grow there. However, if pruned too late, new growth won’t be mature enough in time for flowering the coming season. If pruned before flowering, there is a good chance that you might be cutting flower buds. This will greatly reduce the number of flowers that will bloom in the season.
How to Prune Weigela Effectively:
There can be four reasons for pruning weigela and each one has its regimen: shaping; Stimulating New Growth; rejuvenation pruning, hard pruning.
Shaping:
Weigela can be pruned to control the size of the plant. Make a mental picture of how you want your plant to look and cut the branches accordingly. Make sure not to cut more than one-third of any branch if you want to get flowers from it in the coming season.
If you don’t have the most creative ideas in shaping your weigela plant, it’s best to look for some ideas online. I myself am no expert in designing and shaping some flowers, so to get some ideas I look for online posts. There are many flower enthusiasts out there that continually post their shaping designs of their weigela plant, so if you want you can get some inspiration there.
Stimulating New Growth:
To stimulate new growth in weigela, it is a good practice to cut off one-third of all the flowering stems after the blooming is finished. This will stimulate new growth in the plant which will be able to produce new blooms in the coming season. This also helps to make the plant bushier and fuller with an improvement in the strength and health of the plant. Make sure to never prune more than 1/3rd of the plant at a time. Pruning a weigela plant too much will cause it to weaken or even die, but if you really need to prune a lot of growth do it over the course of several seasons .
After your weigela plant’s flowers have bloomed, cut off the seed pots that have been left over after the flowers bloomed. The seed pots have a likeness similar to buds, and they are located at the tip of the weigela branch. Use your disinfected shears to cut off the seed pods. Cutting away the seed pots will save the plant some energy, which encourages a much more vigorous bloom when the next year’s spring comes.
Occasionally, you may notice some dead or diseased branches on your weigela plant. The signs that a branch is dead is when they are brittle or hollow when touched and they are brown or grey in color. While on the other hand, the signs that a branch is sick or dying is when they have spots or mold on them. If you see any or both of these signs, cut them immediately right down to the main stem of the plant at a 45 degree angle. Cutting them at a 45 degree angle will make room for a new branch to grow and also it prevents the spread of the diseases throughout the entire plant.
If you see any branches that may seem minute and weak, cut them off as well. Branches that look minute and weak have a good chance that flowers won’t bloom in them. Pruning off the weak branches will help the plant divert its energy resources to branches that are healthy which promotes further growth in those areas.
Rejuvenation Pruning:
Rejuvenation pruning is the removal of old wood. It is usually recommended after several years when the plant has become woody. Remove one-third of the largest tallest stems back to the main stem. This will help new growth to sprout which can bloom in the coming season.
Renovation: Pruning Overgrown Weigela
There are several reasons that you might want to consider a renovation. It could be that the plant has grown too big due to negligence, or maybe it’s growing in the wrong direction, or maybe there is a disease or fungus. In all these cases, a renovation of the plant can solve the problem most of the time without having to plant a new shrub.
When pruning overgrown weigela, you need to take hard steps. Usually pruning all the stems back to 4 inches from the ground serves the purpose. However, you won’t be having any blooms that season but it will make your plant new and fresh–a bargain worth making.
Can a Severe Pruning Kill a Weigela Shrub?
The answer to the question ‘can a severe pruning kill weigela shrub?’ is both a Yes and a No. Weigela is a tough plant and can survive harsh conditions. It is less likely that the plant will die from a Severe Pruning–as long as you don’t go overboard. In the case of weigela shrub, it would mean cutting all the stems to the ground without leaving the 4 inches from the growth. The new growth sprouts from the nodes and if you cut all the nodes, there won’t be any new growth.
How Do You Prune A Wine And Roses Weigela?
Wine and rose weigela gets its name from the wine-dark foliage. It is a common cultivar of weigela and a popular choice among gardeners. Its actual name is Weigela florida “Alexandra”.
How do you prune a wine and roses weigela? Just follow the above-mentioned tips and ascertain the need for the type of pruning. An additional tip for this cultivar is to deadhead the flowers as soon as the blooms fade. Remove the branch up to the next branch. This shrub can send out another wave of blooms after pruning.
Conclusions:
Weigela is a beautiful shrub that can make its space in any garden. It is easy to take care of. Pruning it yearly or after a few years can help to improve the blooms and health. Pruning is simple and easy for weigela. To sum up the process in a few sentences: prune off one-third of the plant after flowering, and cut off the old and thick branches to the ground after every few years; for renovation, remove all the branches to 4 inches from the ground.
Now you know how to prune weigela. This guide will keep your acquaintance whenever you find yourself in an uncertain situation. Nothing worthwhile comes without an effort. The effort you put in today will translate itself into a beautiful color display in your garden. Our website also offers other guides as well such as How To Grow Radish and How To Grow Oregano.
Happy Gardening!
