With its beautiful crimson flowers and the imposing size of up to three meters, the weigela Bristol Ruby, which comes from Asia, is probably the uncrowned queen of this genus and is more common than the other varieties.
A good pruning ensures rich flowering
There is no difference in the care of the various Weigelia, but they do differ in their space requirements. While the dwarf variety "All Summer Red" only reaches up to about 75 centimeters in height, the Bristol Ruby can grow four times as large. It is therefore essential that you give it a location where it can develop well.
Pruning the Bristol Ruby properly
If you have planted a Bristol Ruby in the hedge, then you should be a bit careful with the autumn pruning that is usual for hedges. Be sure to leave a sufficient number of shoots with new flower buds, otherwise they will not flower next year. However, not pruning at all is a bad solution, because then your weigela will age and not bloom at all.
Regular pruning is particularly important in the bucket, as the plant has less space here. Sometimes it is also necessary to rejuvenate the root ball. To do this, cut out a few wedges from the bale.
The taper cut
If your weigela is old, it will become extremely lignified, especially in the lower area. It forms hardly any flowering shoots and therefore only a few flower buds. If you don't grab your pruning shears now, your weigela won't bloom in the future either.
Cut the shrub about 20 centimeters above the ground and be patient. As a rule, the Weigela recovers quite well from this radical pruning within a few months and blooms again in the spring after next.
The essentials in brief:
- only conditionally suitable as a container plant
- needs regular pruning for profuse flowering
- no flowering after incorrect pruning
- Rejuvenation cut necessary after a break of years
- in the tub, rejuvenation of the root ball may be necessary
tips
To ensure that your weigela Bristol Ruby does not get old in the first place, you should prune the shrub regularly after flowering.