Weigela florida 'VICTORIA' weigela

Victoria, formerly known as Purpurea, is a weigela variety which differs from others mainly in the foliage colour. New leaves are deep maroon-brown and change to dark green during hot summer months. However, since new leaves emerge throughout the growing season, the shrub always has some maroon foliage at the tips of the branches. The leaves are deciduous and oval to elongated ovate with a prominent tip. The flowers are purplish pink, narrowly funnel-shaped and bloom from mid-May for almost a month. They are very popular with bees, who easily get into the flowers and feast on their nectar. Victoria weigela forms an upright and dense shrub.

Pruning is essential if you want a pretty plant which weigelas can easily be. Since they flower mostly on previous year's wood prune them by one third or even one half right after flowering in June so that they have enough time to make plenty of new twigs that will mature quickly and bear plenty of flowers in the next season. Use them as screening plants in informal flowering hedges, in parks and public landscapes, or as specimens in small sized gardens.

Weigelas thrive in semi-fertile, slightly moist soil, preferably in full sun, however you can often see them growing in part shade or even complete shade and they still bloom. They can take heavy and compacted soil, too, but will need more time to become nice and bushy. Occasional flooding is not a problem, in fact, they prefer excess water rather than drought. Their hardiness varies with variety, but usually they withstand min. -29 °C (USDA zone 5). Victoria is hardy to at abt. -34 °C (USDA zone 4). Despite its good hardiness large growing weigelas are not suitable for outdoor pots (risk of drying out in winter).

Last update: 26-04-2007; 16-10-2024