I am not sure why I grow weigelas, whose habit is rangy and somewhat misshapen, and who want regular pruning to prevent outright chaos. But then they go and bloom at this time of year, with their raucous displays of hummingbird-pleasing flowers, and I think, “OK, one more year before I toss it out.” And then another…. ‘Wine and Roses,’ unlike some earlier red-leaf cultivars, keeps its foliage color in summer (it doesn’t fade to green).
i took cuttings from an old weigela because i love the arching branches and the hummingbirds that come with it. the cuttings are growing very different from mama. i doubt it was a grafted cultivar because it is supposedly very old. they are both in brighter light but they are fan shaped rather than arching and the flowers are pure white hanging bells instead of pink tubulars. any ideas?
thanks in advance, laura
Hi, Laura. This is a total mystery to me, as it is to you. Since propagation by cutting is asexual, you should get the same plant as the woody tissue you took the cuttings from, as you obviously know. Cutting into rootstock would yield a different plant (as you also know) but I don’t know why a Weigela would be on other rootstock, either. I do see photos/info on Weigela ‘Bristol Snowflake’ (a spreading white-flowered weigela) here and elsewhere, and even news of an old variety called ‘Dame Blanche’ with both white and pink flowers on the same branch (in my old Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia which is also online here) so there are genetics in Weigela such as you describe, but…a total mystery to me.
I have even gone through my pretty good collection of old propagation texts and so on…to find any word of grafting Weigelas as a common practice…and haven’t come across anything. You got me interested though! Sorry not to have the definitive answer.