How to Prune Wine & Rose Weigela
It is best to prune your wine and rose weigela plants because if they are not trimmed they look unsightly and grow thick woody branches that do not produce flowers. You can prune using an electric pruner for larger jobs, or hand held pruning shears for a more refined style.
- Cut back wine and rose weigela’s in the late spring after the blooms have bloomed and dropped.
- Trim the branches to keep the shape you want. It’s important to note that you shouldn't trim back too much because the buds that grow into flowers for next year need to grow on one year old wood. If you cut back too much, or too late in the season, there is a risk of flower loss for next year.
- Style the overall shape with your pruning shears to create the size you need. There are have many choices that will work well if you maintain the shape design continuously year after year for up to decades.
- Take back only up to one-third of any whole branches to ensure next year’s crop of flowers and so that the shrub does not look unsightly.
- Trim back after the heat of the sun has set so the plant does not burn.
- Cut all the way back to where the two branches meet to increase next years production, leaving behind the healthy branches that produce the best blooms. You may opt for loppers that take off large branches.
- Use hand held hedge instead of electric pruning shears for a more refined look with no missing gaps of flower development.
- Remove old branches that are over an inch and a half thick at the base of a main stalk every few years. This rejuvenates the plant allowing water to go to newer healthier branches. Prune these old branches right down to the ground.