Plant of the Week: Sonic Bloom® Red Weigela

Hello and happy Monday!

I'm up to my eyeballs getting ready to travel to the Cultivate conference in Ohio this week - if you're heading there as well, please be sure to look me up! The Proven Winners® ColorChoice® booth is #0915, in the Solutions Marketplace, near the New Varieties Zone. If you'd like to meet up, shoot me an email at natalie@springmeadownursery.com and we can exchange telephone numbers.

We'll be making a special announcement at the Monday morning keynote, but just as a teaser, you'll see the Proven Winners® staff wearing pink shirts at the conference this year...hmm, what could that mean?

So for this week, enjoy Jane's plant of the week, and I'll post that latest and greatest about Cultivate next week!

- Natalie

Boom!

All of the fireworks going off last week make me think of Sonic Bloom® weigela. Bloom or boom, it's exciting.

While regular weigela flower in spring and then just sit around the rest of the season, Sonic Bloom® Weigela will rebloom for a respectable summer flower display, too.

This is Sonic Bloom® Red weigela; there are also hot pink, pinkish-white and pure pink colors available.

All of the Sonic Bloom® weigela will grow best in full sun and get about 4-5' tall. There are a couple of good videos about Sonic Bloom® Red, including a recent update from Garden Answer.

Pruning reblooming plants.

Reblooming versions of old favorites can be a little confusing, especially with regard to pruning.

Many of us go with the traditional advice to prune spring flowering shrubs immediately after flowering, and to cut back summer bloomers in late winter and early spring. But what do you do with a plant that flowers in spring and again in summer and fall?

First off, don't prune the plant back in late winter. Reblooming plants carry the spring flowers over from the previous season, so if you prune them back or they are damaged by harsh weather the spring flowers will be gone.

It's best to trim these plants immediately after their spring bloom. As with traditional varieties, pruning at this time means the plant has plenty of time to set flower buds for the following season.

Trimming reblooming plants back after the spring bloom also encourages the new growth, which is where the repeat summer flower buds are created. The plant may go through a rest period before reblooming, but it will rebloom if you don't cut it back again and again.

Many rebloomers will flower again without trimming in spring, but if you do want to shape a plant, after the spring bloom is the time to do it.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles.