Once you have a weigela, you often want more of these lush, flowering and easy-care shrubs. If you don't want them to be different varieties or colors, you can easily grow the new weigela yourself.
How can you successfully propagate weigela?
The easiest way to propagate weigela is by cuttings: in midsummer, cut slightly woody, non-flowering shoots (15-20 cm), remove the upper soft part and lower leaves, place them in potting soil and keep them evenly moist. Move young plants to a sunny location next spring.
Sowing Weigela
Weigelia can be propagated by sowing, although it will take some time until you get flowering shrubs. It is recommended to grow it under glass, i.e. in a cold frame or in a greenhouse, or alternatively in the house.
Propagate Weigela through cuttings
Propagation from cuttings is less time-consuming and usually quite successful. During the growing season (between the first shoots in spring and the shedding of leaves in autumn), cut off slightly woody but non-flowering shoots about 15 to 20 centimeters long, ideally in mid-summer. Remove both the soft, unwoody shoot tips and the lower leaves.
Place the trimmed shoots in lean garden soil, a mixture of peat and sand or potting soil (€6.00 at Amazon), a maximum of two pairs of leaves should stick out. Press the substrate well and water the cuttings. Now keep the substrate evenly moist in a warm and protected place in partial shade. This can be done outside in the garden in summer, but later it is better in a temperature-controlled room.
Care for young plants
Water the cuttings and later the young plants regularly, but without stagnating moisture, otherwise the tender roots will rot. However, you are not allowed to fertilize the plants. The young weigelias should spend their first winter at a comfortable temperature of around + 10 °C to + 15 °C, later they are hardy.
In spring you can move your weigelia into the garden; they should now have strong roots and some new shoots. Wait until about May before transplanting, or in a rough area and/or for slightly weaker plants, wait until after the Ice Saints. Then place the young weigela in a sunny location.
The most important things in brief:
- Sowing possible, but lengthy
- easy propagation by cuttings
- possible from spring to autumn
- best chances of success in midsummer
- prune slightly woody, non-flowering shoots
- approx. 15 to 20 cm long
- cut off the soft upper part of the shoots
- Remove leaves in the lower part
- Put into garden or potting soil so deep that a maximum of 2 pairs of leaves stick out
- Press the soil well
- Watering cuttings
- keep evenly moist (and warm)
- overwinter in the first winter at around + 10 °C to + 15 °C
- plant in final location next spring
Tip
The easiest way to propagate is with the help of cuttings. This is how you get a shrub that is genetically identical to the mother plant.
