Weigela 'Js4' BIG LOVE® weigela
Symbivit Tric (arbuscular)
Symbivit (arbuscular)Weigela
Weigelas are highly praised and frequently used landscape plants because they are problem-free, profusely flowering shrubs which require little or no maintenance. They are deciduous and commonly grow 1.5-2.5m tall and wide, while new and modern varieties are bred for more compact growth and there are even dwarf cultivars available today. Weigelas come from East Asia (North China, Korea, Japan) and were named after German professor Christian Ehrenfried Weigel (1748-1831) from University of Geifswalg.
Dutch breeder Gijsbertus Verhoef is a renowned weigela breeder who selected many varieties since 2001 when he first spotted a mutation on weigela Tango. It showed a beautiful and unusual variegation which he watched grow and a few years later he launched it under a trade name MONET. More than 20 years later it is still one of the top popular variegated weigelas. All his varieties which he found as naturally occurring mutations can be recognized by the patent names Verweig with a number. However, after 2020, he also embarked on his own crossbreeding work with the aim of obtaining more compact and profusely and reliably repeat flowering weigelas. Their patent names begin with JS.
BIG LOVE weigela is big. And loveable. It belongs to the ALL SUMMER™ series which comprises of those varieties that have the ability to bloom all summer long. Not massively but truly continuously throughout the season. It was bred by Gijsbertus Verhoef and received patent No. PP33977 in 2022, when it was first introduced to the public. This is a medium-tall but nicely compact green-leaved variety with red flowers. The strongest wave of flowering occurs from mid-to-late May to mid-June, and then blooms sporadically until the last warm and sunny days of autumn. The flowers are elongated tubular, purplish red, and are very popular with bees, who easily enter the flowers and feast on their nectar. Deciduous leaves are medium green, broadly elliptic and have inconspicuous, thin, red edges.
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). BIG LOVE is hardy to at least -29 °C (USDA zone 5). Despite its good hardiness large growing weigelas are not suitable for outdoor pots (risk of drying out in winter).
Last update: 11-10-2024
