Has Weigela gone out of fashion?

alfharris8 · April 2023

I don't think I ever see or hear much about Weigela on garden programmes these days.
Have I just missed it or have they gone out if style. If so, what is wrong with them?

AnniD · April 2023

It's funny that you should mention them @alfharris8, l was talking abut them only yesterday.
I'd seen some at our local branch of The Range a few days ago, including a white variety that l thought was rather unusual.
My late Mum used to love them, there were several in the garden of the first home that she and my Dad bought. I'm pretty sure they were Bristol Ruby.
She always called them "Wigglys" and the name stuck.

It's certainly not a fashionable shrub these days, but it has a certain charm

B3 · April 2023

There are some lovely ones but some of the variegated or yellow - leafed ones are a bit hard on the eye

Fairygirl · April 2023

I have the white one, as I don't like pale pink, or the variegated/yellow leaved ones, although there's a nice dark red one which would be ok.
The white one is meant to be more lax and horizontal in habit. It isn't, so it's getting a prune later on after it flowers...

WAMS · April 2023

Perhaps no one is sure how to pronounce it. I am too scared to talk about roses anymore after finding out two days ago how the Alnwick Rose is supposed to be pronounced. And I have never heard anyone in real life say "aubretia."

That said, a weigela made the shortlist for the Chelsea Plant Show Plant of the Year a couple of years ago, so they can't be that recherché.

RBManc · April 2023

I have a really big one at the end of my garden which has turned into a tree and I love it - as do the bees when it flowers. It's the variegated kind and does look okay, maybe because its so big and just passes as a tree.

I like it so much that I have just bought a baby one - a Bristol Ruby variety.

Fairygirl · April 2023

Bristol Ruby is nice @RBManc - I think that's the one I was referring to in my post.

They're certainly quite adaptable - as you've found. They can be treated as a small, multi stemmed tree with thicker trunks.

LunarSea · April 2023

Sheffield Botanical Gardens hold the national collection and I often walk past them without even noticing. They're that sort of shrub. We've got a couple, including Bristol Ruby. Yes the flowers are nice at a macro level but both the shrubs spends months looking straggly and a bit .... meh! On the other hand if you make them a feature plant, and prune them judiciously, they can be .... 'quite nice'

Buttercupdays · April 2023

My first one was variegated, but I didn't like it with the pink flowers. A couple of branches reverted, so I took cuttings from them and now have Bristol Ruby as well as two with plain green leaves - much better! The bees like them and the pink ones flower all summer and into late autumn with little attention.

Plantminded · April 2023

I've never grown one or been enticed to grow one as I don't like pink flowers with variegated foliage. However, looking at some photos of Bristol Ruby I can see that it has its merits!

Lyn · April 2023

If you prune them at the wrong time you can just have a nice bush, the green/white are nice and restful.

I’ve got 5 here but they grow so big, I can cut them down and by the end of summer they’re up in the sky again.

Has Weigela gone out of fashion?

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