How and When to Prune Weigelas

How and When to Prune Weigelas

With its lushly-pigmented, trumpet-shaped flowers, the weigela has enjoyed a recent resurgence in popularity. While it’s a beautiful plant that certainly adds panache to your garden, it’s also a vigorous grower that requires occasional pruning. How and when to prune weigelas can be tricky, but with these helpful tips, your weigela will be looking good at the right times of the year.

How to Prune

It’s important to visualize your weigela before you take to it with your hand trimmers or hedge clippers. Be mindful of the plant’s natural shape, as well as how you want it to look in your yard or garden. Long branches should be cut back to its main component, whether it’s a stem, branch, shoot or bud. Weak, crossing and ground-level branches should be thinned out in order to improve airflow and light, which will promote better flowering.

When to Prune

Late spring or early summer is recommended for weigela pruning—whenever the last flowers have finished blooming. Don’t wait long after they’ve bloomed, either—try to prune the plant immediately. If you wait too long, the plant won’t have ample time to produce buds for the following spring. Regular growth—branches that look old and woody—should be trimmed after two years, as the weigela is constantly growing and looks better with new, young wood.

Remember…

It’s important to perpetuate healthy growth with weigelas. Keep your weigela in good shape, both visually and physically. Make sure you prune the plant on time and to your liking while remaining true to its natural form.

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