Can I prune a Weiglea shrub like this??

[carol]

I have two red Weiglia shrubs. They like to have their oldest branches cut all the way down so new, fresh stems take their place. The shrubs are about 10/12 years old now and some of the old wood is very old. I got behind on pruning them. I heard you can "refresh" old shrubs by cutting them back almost to the ground. I've seen this done on holly and even boxwood. My two shrubs have many, many long stems so they are very difficult to reach into with a large pruning shears or a saw and cut them back near the ground. I'm wondering if next spring I can just cut ALL the stems back, say within a foot or 18 inches of the ground. Weiglea shrubs always send up fresh shoots from the base. What do you think?

 

[Tetters]

I have many varieties of weigela, and have often given them a hard prune as you suggest. Without exception they have all grown back very well, and the shrubs have improved.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I have many weigelas . my pruning method is to prune out first suckers, prune out branches that reach for GOD or that go opposite the nice weepy look. prune out branches that are rubbing on each other. and last, then prune for shape. I would never prune down real hard, maybe 1/3 down. thats it.

 

[Bootsy]

This link is to the advice from the Royal Horticultural Society (one of the most respected organisations in the country). Although you can prune weigelia hard back it says that it should be done between November and March - in this country.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=194

 

[Tetters]

Very good point Bootsy, it is definitely a winter job

 

[carol]

Hum . . . It appears people here have different opinions. That's okay for me as whatever works - works! I firmly believe Weiglia are versatile plants and can take different types of pruning. I greatly appreciate Bootsy's Royal Horticulture Society's link and saved it for the winter when I will tackle the project. I did go through and get rid of the oldest stems and others that needed pruning last week and will save the major work for later. Thanks for your input.

 

[Bootsy]

We grow some of our Weigelias as standards by pruning off the bottom branches and just shaping the top ones. You can, if you wish, end up with a ball of flowering stems on the top of a trunk.

 

[carol]

Hey Bootsy, can you post a picture of the weigelias you have pruned in that way? It would be interesting for us to see. Maybe we can start a new trend here in the states for I have not heard of this kind of pruning treatment here! Thanks.

 

[Bootsy]

These are not particularly good photos but they do give the idea. In the early days of training them they looked like this:-
The two balls of leaves on the end of the trunk, at the end of the greenhouse.

They have grown since then and look like this:- just taken the photos.
We haven't pruned them after last year so they have got a bit out of hand. This is the one of them nearest the greenhouse

This is another one that we didn't prune last year. It's a later flowering one so won't be in flower for another month. It has darker green leaves and the flowers are a very deep red.

My wife is now very much into flower arranging so she will prune them whilst in bloom in order to use the flowers.

 

[DeborahJane]

Your standard Wiegelias look great Bootsy. Stunning in flower. I have a couple on them in my garden and have cut them back a bit but not methodically. I must be more conscientious about it next time to show them off. Aftrr all, they have the right to reach their potential . I actually do the same as your wife Bootsy. My vases are filled when i prune. It's a bonus

 

[Bootsy]

We have quite a few of different ones. This is a variegated one that isn't trained as a standard. We leave it to grow in its own form and just trim it when it gets out of hand. This photo was taken a few years ago and it was 10ft high. Both the Weigelia and the Acer next to it are, sadly, no longer with us. We do have some young ones of the Weigelia that we have grown from cuttings.

 

[carol]

Bootsy, I'm wondering how difficult it was to get cuttings to root. I might try that with mine. I'm wondering how you managed to keep the shrub just to one stem. Just by pruning out all the others?

 

[Bootsy]

Yes, you keep it to one stem by pruning out the side shoots up to the level that you want it to sprout.

Cuttings are very easy to root. You take cuttings after it has flowered and it is making new growth. You can either take some of the new growth with a heel of old wood or just use the new growth. It's a very easy plant to propagate and we do them and sell them for charity.

A similar standard style shape can be done with a lot of vigorous growing plants. Buddleia is another good example.

The lower stems have been pruned off this Buddleia for two reasons. One was to give a better view of the garden from the kitchen and the other was to enable us to have flowers growing beneath it. Photo taken early in the year

And in July when it has just started blooming

 

[Rayaustin]

Hopi Crape Myrtle is a wonderful shrub that would look great in many different areas of your landscape. This can grow to be fairly large for a shrub, to 10 feet tall and wide. This plant would look great as the centerpiece shrub of a landscaped area and would look fantastic grouped with this and other crape myrtles.

This plant grows in multi-stemmed shrub form in an upright , spreading fashion. It has small, oval, 3 inch long leaves. They have a nice green color in the spring and summer, before turning a great red-orange color in the fall. This crape myrtle has added interest with gray-brown exfoliating bark. The pink flowers individually are quite small, with their namesake ruffled crepe-paper appearance. They form in large, 6 to 7 inch long, panicles in profusion all over the shrub. The flowers bloom form mid-summer to early autumn.

 

[Bootsy]

The Two Weigelias that I showed by the greenhouse have just been pruned back.

The one that I didn't show in bloom is this one (in post #9). It tends to grow very fast and a bit unruly if left unpruned for more than a year.

Here it is whilst being pruned the other day

and the other ones at the other end of the greenhouse were pruned immediately before it (they don't grow quite as vigorously as the other one.