Shrub
How to grow weigela
Weigela florida and hybrids
Plant weigela between October and March in full sun or light shade, in fertile soil that holds moisture but drains. It is fully hardy and undemanding, flowering in May and June on wood made the previous year. That is the point to remember: prune straight after flowering, never in winter or spring, and take out a few of the oldest stems each year to keep the bush producing young flowering wood.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Full sun to light shade
- Soil
- Fertile, moisture-retentive, free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.5
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting weigela
WhenPlant Oct to Mar; flowers May to Jun; prune after flowering
Starting off
Plant bare-root Nov to Mar or pot-grown Oct to Mar in full sun for the best leaf colour on purple and variegated types. Propagate by 10 cm softwood cuttings in Jun to Jul, rooting in 3 weeks at 18 to 20°C under a bag, or 20 to 25 cm hardwood cuttings in Nov in a sheltered trench; both root easily.
Spacing and planting
Most W. florida hybrids reach 1.5 to 2.5 m tall by 1.5 to 2.5 m wide; 'Wine and Roses' stays near 1.2 m and 'Monet' under 1 m. Plant 1.5 m apart, 1 m from a wall, in a hole twice the rootball width at pot depth. The dwarf purple-leaved types are tolerable in a 45 cm pot; the species is better in the ground.
Varieties worth growing
- W. 'Bristol Ruby'
- The classic: an upright 2 to 2.5 m shrub covered in deep ruby-red trumpets in May and June. Vigorous and reliable on any soil.
- W. 'Florida Variegata'
- Cream-edged leaves and pale pink flowers on a compact 1.5 m bush. It looks good for six months, not just the few weeks in flower.
- W. florida 'Alexandra' (Wine and Roses)
- Dark purple-bronze foliage with rose-pink flowers on a small shrub. Needs full sun for the leaf colour.
- W. florida 'Foliis Purpureis'
- A slow, dense dome about 1 m high with bronze-purple leaves and pink flowers. The best purple-leaved form for a small border.
- W. 'Red Prince'
- Bright red flowers that hold their colour without fading, on an upright 1.5 m plant, often with a few more in late summer.
Weigela month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Plant bare-root or pot-grown in open weather. Do not prune.
- February
Plant. Nothing else to do.
- March
Light feed and a 5 cm mulch. Last month for bare-root planting. Renovate an overgrown bush now if you must.
- April
Trim off any frosted tips. Water spring-planted shrubs in dry spells.
- May
Flowering begins.
- June
Main flowering. As it finishes, cut flowered shoots back to a strong young side shoot and remove 1 in 5 old stems. Softwood cuttings.
- July
Finish pruning by mid month. Softwood cuttings. Cut out plain green shoots on variegated forms.
- August
Water in drought. Do not prune from now on; next year's flowering wood is growing.
- September
Nothing to do.
- October
Planting season begins.
- November
Plant bare-root. Hardwood cuttings in a sheltered trench.
- December
Plant in open weather. Otherwise nothing to do.
Feeding weigela
A light to moderate feeder. One small balanced feed in March with a mulch is all it needs; moisture at the root does more for flowering than fertiliser. Nothing after June, so the new wood ripens before winter.
Low-to-moderate, a light spring feed.
Feeding plan
October to March, at planting
5 g per litre of root ball, dusted onto the roots or into the hole so it touches them: 15 g for a 3 litre pot. Dust the damp roots of bare-root plants. Once.
March
50 g/m², half the label rate of 100 g/m², under the branch spread and watered in: about 50 g for a young shrub, 100 to 150 g for a mature one covering 2 to 3 m². On poor sandy soil use the full 100 g/m².
March, after feeding
Garden compost
A 5 cm mulch over the root area, kept clear of the stems. This matters more than the fertiliser on light soil.
March, pots
2 g per litre of compost, the bottom of the label range, on the surface and watered in: about 70 g for a 45 cm pot holding roughly 35 litres. Once.
Signs to watch
Masses of leaf and few flowers
Excess nitrogen or pruning in spring
No feed beyond a mulch, prune only in Jun to Jul after flowering, sulphate of potash in Mar
Variegated or purple types going green
Shade, or reversion
Full sun and cut out reverted shoots at the base
Older leaves yellow between the veins in Aug
Magnesium short
Epsom salts drench
Pests, diseases and problems
Young leaves at the shoot tips peppered with small ragged holes
Capsid bugs feeding on the buds in May and June; the holes tear as the leaf expands
Tolerate it. The damage is cosmetic and later growth is clean. Clear leaf litter from under the shrub in winter.
Sticky, curled leaves at the shoot tips in late spring
Aphids
Squash by hand or knock off with water. Predators catch up within a few weeks.
A tall, bare-legged bush that flowers only round the outside
No pruning; old stems crowd the centre and produce weak flowering shoots
After flowering each year remove 1 in 5 of the oldest stems at the base. A badly overgrown bush can be cut to 30 cm in March, at the cost of one summer's flowers.
Shoot tips dead and brown in spring
Frost on soft, unripened growth, usually after late feeding or a wet autumn
Trim only the dead tips back to a live bud in April, leaving the rest for flowering. Do not feed after June.
Leaves wilting and browning at the edges in July and August
Drought; weigela is shallow-rooted and suffers on light soil
Soak with 20 litres a week in dry spells and mulch every spring. Purple and variegated forms in full sun show it first.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Flowers on the previous year's wood, so prune immediately after flowering in Jun to Jul: cut each flowered shoot back to a strong non-flowered side shoot lower down and remove 1 in 5 of the oldest stems at the base to keep it young. Pruning in Mar removes the flowers. Overgrown bushes renovate well, cut to 30 cm in Mar and accepting one flowerless summer. Cut out any plain green shoots on variegated
Good to knowPrune after the early-summer flowers; cut out a few old stems each year.
Growing weigela in pots
Weigela is better in the ground, but the dwarf and purple-leaved forms will grow for some years in a 45 cm pot of loam-based compost in full sun. Water is the limiting factor: a weigela in leaf wilts quickly, so check daily from May to September and mulch the surface. Feed once in March, prune after flowering as for a border plant, and replace the top 5 cm of compost each spring. Repot every three years, or plant it out when it starts to dry out faster than you can water it. The full-size hybrids such as 'Bristol Ruby' are too large and thirsty for a container.
Weigela: common questions
When should I prune weigela?
Prune straight after flowering, in June or early July. Cut each flowered shoot back to a strong young side shoot lower down, and remove about one in five of the oldest stems at the base. Pruning in autumn, winter or spring cuts off the wood that carries the next flowers.
Why is my weigela not flowering?
Pruning at the wrong time is the usual cause, because weigela flowers on stems grown the previous summer. Deep shade, a bush choked with old wood, and heavy nitrogen feeding are the other reasons. Prune only after flowering, thin out old stems, and keep feeding light.
Can I cut weigela back hard?
Yes. An overgrown weigela can be cut to about 30 cm from the ground in March and will regrow strongly, though it will not flower that summer. For a gentler approach, remove a third of the oldest stems after flowering each year for three years and you keep the flowers throughout.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.