Weigela Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607 is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae, growing to 1–5 m (3–15′) tall. All are natives of eastern Asia. The genus is named after the German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel.
Description The leaves are long, ovate-oblong with an acuminate tip, and with a serrated margin.
The flowers are 2–4 cm long, with a five-lobed white, pink, or red (rarely yellow) corolla, produced in small corymbs of several together in early summer.
The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous small winged seeds.
Fossil record Several fossil seeds and fruit fragments of †Weigela srodoniowae have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark.Angiosperm Fruits and Seeds from the Middle Miocene of Jutland (Denmark) by Else Marie Friis, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 24:3, 1985
Garden history The first species to be collected for Western gardens, Weigela florida, distributed in North China, Korea and Manchuria, was found by Robert Fortune and imported to England in 1845. Following the opening of Japan to Westerners, several Weigela species and garden versions were discovered by European plant-hunters in the 1850s and 1860s, though they were already well known in Japan.Mark Nesbitt, The Cultural History of Plants, 2005:284; Ran Levy-Yamamori, Ran Levy, Gerard Taaffe, Garden plants of Japan, 2004, s.v. "Weigela hortensis"
The British Weigela national collection is held at Sheffield Botanical Gardens; along with the national collection of the closely related genus Diervilla. The German Weigela national collection, Sichtungsgarten Weigela, is in Buckow, Märkische Schweiz.
Ecology Weigela species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail.
Accepted species
Image Scientific name DistributionWeigela coraeensis Thunb. Plants of the World online (powo.science.kew.org)Japan (E. Central Honshu)Weigela decora (Nakai) NakaiCentral & S. JapanWeigela floribunda (Siebold & Zucc.) K.KochJapan (W. & Central Honshu, Shikoku)Weigela florida (Bunge) A.DC. S. Russian Far East to N. & E. China and Korea, Japan (Kyushu)Weigela × fujisanensis (Makino) NakaiJapan (C. Honshu)Weigela hortensis (Siebold & Zucc.) K.KochJapan (Hokkaido, Honshu)Weigela japonica Thunb.S. China, S. JapanWeigela maximowiczii (S.Moore) RehderJapan (N. & Central Honshu).Weigela middendorffiana (Carrière) K.KochRussian Far East to N. & N. Central Japan Weigela suavis (Kom.) L.H.BaileyRussian Far EastWeigela subsessilis (Nakai) L.H.Bailey Korea
Cultivation
Several of the species are very popular ornamental shrubs in gardens, although species have been mostly superseded by hybrids (crosses between W. florida and other Asiatic species). The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
Weigela 'Red Prince' Weigela florida 'Alexandra' Weigela 'Florida Variegata' Weigela 'Praecox Variegata'
'Pink Princess' is a popular cultivar of Weigela, a shrub native to northern China, Korea, and Japan, that flowers profusely. It is a hardy plant, easy to grow and maintain. It grows to a height and width of up to in appropriate conditions, and is thus more compact than the normal Weigela florida, which makes it a more versatile shrub. It is attractive to hummingbirds and bees.
Gallery
References
External links
Weigela coraeensis - Images British national collection at Sheffield Botanical Gardens