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Weigela

winny219winny219 Posts: 8
in Problem solving
I have a very large weigela which is over 30 years old. It gives a mass of beautiful pale pink fowers every year which the bees love. It is about 4m high but my neighbour has been reaching over and taking chunks out of the height of it at any opportunity so it is losing the lovely bushy shape it had. This year it's had a lot of dead branches which I have cut out, but it also has a lot of new growth springing out from other old and thick branches;it also has some newer thinner shoots growing from the base. I have also noticed that many of the varigated leaves are turning pink/red  I have tried feeding it with some kelp feed and hopefully that will help it and it could probably do with a good hard prune but I am terrified of losing it completely as my Dad planted it a few months before he died. Could these problems be caused by the random cutting by my neighbour or does anyone have any idea what else could be causing them when it's always been fine before? Many thanks for your help.
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You can cut it back to rejuvenate it, which will actually be good for it. Hardy shrubs benefit enormously from that. You can either cut the whole thing back to good leaf joints, or you can do the three year prune where you take about a third of the stems right back, and then do each of the other two thirds in subsequent years.
    It's perfectly normal for older foliage to change colour and drop off too, and on a mature shrub, that happens more often. 
    Regarding your neighbour, it wouldn't harm your shrub, but he/she has no right to lean over and remove anything. They can remove anything overhanging the boundary, but not branches that are clearly on your property. 
    If you have a photo, that will help with further advice though  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • winny219winny219 Posts: 8
    Thank you for the reassurance. I'll take some pics and post them.
    I actually reported my neighbour to the police for trespass and criminal damage as it got to the stage where everytime I went out they would cut off more, but it isn't the crime of the century so it wasn't taken seriously. They still do it, so I've started leaving a trail camera pointing at the shrub now when I go out to try to catch them in the act.
    I'll go and get those photos.
  • winny219winny219 Posts: 8
    Hi again it's been almost 10 months since I last posted and was going to get photos, however owing to health problems which overshadowed the problem with my weigela I didn't get around to it. 
    My weigela is still hanging in there and is flowering again but sadly it is just a shadow of its former self with more dead branches. It is upsetting to see because before my neighbours started hacking it, it was beautiful I have added some bone fish and blood to the soil around it in the hope this will help but is there anything else I can add to the soil?
    I need to cut out the dead branches, some of which are quite thick, but is it OK to do it at this time of year and just make horizontal cuts across them? Also, should I treat where I have cut with anything to stop disease? (I think linseed oil use to be recommended but I don't know if that is OK for weigela).
    This was taken today


  • winny219winny219 Posts: 8
    This was just 2 years ago in July 2020

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Weigelas root quite easily from cuttings, so it might be a good idea to look for some suitable new shoots to plant in a pot as a a standby or replacement that you could plant beyond neighbour's reach. I did this a good few years ago with a shrub like yours, but I preferred the plain green leaves, so took my cutting from a branch that had reverted.
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    To echo @Buttercupdays it's unbelievably easy to propagate new ones. Last year I used a couple of woody prunings off my weigela as support canes for something else.  They'd been pruned off a couple of weeks earlier and had been lying around in the garage all that time.  One of the two I pushed into the ground rooted and is now a brand new weigela.
  • winny219winny219 Posts: 8
    Buttercupdays said:
    Weigelas root quite easily from cuttings, so it might be a good idea to look for some suitable new shoots to plant in a pot as a a standby or replacement that you could plant beyond neighbour's reach. I did this a good few years ago with a shrub like yours, but I preferred the plain green leaves, so took my cutting from a branch that had reverted.
    borgadr said:
    To echo @Buttercupdays it's unbelievably easy to propagate new ones. Last year I used a couple of woody prunings off my weigela as support canes for something else.  They'd been pruned off a couple of weeks earlier and had been lying around in the garage all that time.  One of the two I pushed into the ground rooted and is now a brand new weigela.
    Thank you both. Is there a special way of taking the cuttings - certain places to cut etc?
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I think weigela are usually propagated from semi ripe cuttings, so this might help
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/propagation/semi-ripe-cuttings

    I have heard that you can just put pieces into water and roots will form, but l haven't tried that myself  :)
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    All plants have a natural life expectancy so your weigela could possibly be nearing the end of its life. 
    I would definitely try to take some cuttings to perpetuate your Dad's shrub. Weigela are fairly tough so a selective,  1/3 per year, hard prune should rejuvenate it. It will look very bedraggled for the first 3 years but could save its life. It would give you the chance to train the shape of the bush not to overhang your neighbour's garden and reduce the height substantially.

    I must admit, I do feel a bit sorry for your neighbours. The bush must cast a lot of dense shade into their garden and a lot of debris from fallen leaves in the autumn so not surprising they have resorted to cutting it back on their side. I agree they have no right to reach over the fence to your side. Also, according to law, they should return anything they remove, to you, unless you agree to them disposing of the branches etc.

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I agree with taking a batch of cuttings and rejuvenation pruning. I can't see the base of the shrub clearly but I think I would take out a few of the oldest/thickest branches down to the ground, then repeat each year. I have a similar one, but I keep it small (about a 3 to 4 feet tall) by taking out 1/3 of the branches (evenly, not all from one side) every year after it's finished flowering. It's probably about 15 or 20 years old now. Here it is today, not quite in flower yet (that's self-sown honesty coming up through it).

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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