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Weigela of the Honeysuckle family is named after the German botanist Weigel. This flowering shrub came to Europe from Southeast Asia, where more than a dozen species of this shrub grow. In Our Country, weigela is found wild in the Far East. No more than 10 species of shrubs are cultivated in gardens and parks. Weigela Minor Black is one of the most beautiful representatives of the family.
Description of weigela Minor Black
Dwarf deciduous shrub reaches a height of no more than a meter. Its shoots are mostly vertical. A dense lush crown is formed from pointed leaves, different in color. The crown diameter of an adult weigela shrub Minor Black usually does not exceed 1 m.
The color range of the leaves is from red to dark purple. Some leaf blades become almost black over time. Remarkable shrub and flowering. Bright or dark pink flowers cover the weigela crown, turning it into a garden decoration. Narrow five-petal bells are collected in inflorescences of several pieces.
How weigela Minor Black blooms
The main reason why weigela Black Minor has become popular with gardeners is the flowering of the shrub twice a year. The first time the shrub is covered with abundant flowers in June – July. These are blooming shoots from last year. Such a charming process lasts up to four weeks.
It is noteworthy that weigela Minor Black flowers can change color over time. Pale pink bluebells become brighter and darker over time. Flowering ends with the formation of fruit boxes with seeds inside.
The second flowering of the season is provided by young shoots. And, despite the fact that this picture is not as bright as the first, the plant covered with delicate flowers in September looks at least exotic against the backdrop of fading vegetation.
Application in landscape design
The undersized flowering weigela Minor Black is used as a link between high plantations and low annuals when creating various garden compositions.
Weigela is used as an independent garden decoration or in combination with other varieties and types of garden plants.
The options for using Weigela Minor Black in landscape design are shown in detail in the photo.
Weigela perfectly complements group plantings of green plants. An unpretentious plant can coexist with juniper or thuja. Weigela is often used to shape an alpine slide. The bright foliage and lush flowering of the shrub can be used to give volume to the flower bed against the background of stones.
The hybrid dwarf weigela Minor Black is also suitable as a tub culture. But usually shrubs are grown in flowerpots only up to the age of three. Then the plant is transplanted to a suitable place in the garden.
Breeding methods
Weigela Minor Black is propagated by cuttings and seeds. The planting stock for cuttings is cut in the spring before the formation of flower buds. Young branches with green bark are cut with a sharp tool at an angle of 90 degrees. The length of the workpiece should be no more than 15 cm.
The cutting must be treated with a rooting enhancer and left at room temperature for 12-14 hours.
The cuttings are planted in a loose mixture of sand and peat, so that the seedling is covered with soil by 1 cm.
It is necessary to water future seedlings regularly so that the soil is constantly moist. Rooting is better if you make a film cap or a mini greenhouse for the cuttings. Be sure to ventilate the seedlings so that condensation on the walls of the shelter does not lead to rotting of the plants.
Experienced gardeners advise planting cuttings in separate containers. Bushes need to be grown before landing in a permanent place for one and a half to two years. In order for the future seedling to turn out to be sufficiently developed and lush, the top of the cutting after the formation of roots is shortened by a third.
The roots of the cuttings are formed no earlier than a month and a half later.
The plant is easy to propagate by seeds. But it should be noted that Minor Black is a hybrid variety. Therefore, the varietal qualities of plants grown from seeds may differ from the parental variant.
Seeds are harvested in late autumn. Germination does not require soaking or treatment with stimulants. Seeds are sown in dry sand and watered until germination. High-quality seed material, subject to humidity and temperature conditions, usually germinates no later than a month later.
Weigela Minor Black reproduces well by self-sowing. It remains for the gardener to transplant the grown seedlings in the spring, choosing the most developed plants.
Layering can also be used to plant shrubs in the garden. To obtain a seedling in the fall, the lowest branch from the mother bush is added dropwise, after removing all the foliage, except for the top one. A healthy seedling will be ready for spring. It is separated and transplanted into a tub for growing.
Planting and caring for weigela Minor Black
When buying a weigela seedling, you should pay attention to the age of the plant. The most suitable for planting in the garden are three-year-old bushes. Weigela blooming Minor Black is hard to transplant to a new place. Younger seedlings rarely take root or get sick for a long time.
Recommended timing
It is necessary to plant a shrub in a permanent place in open ground in the spring. The frost resistance of Weigela Minor Black is very low. Seedlings take a long time to adapt to a new place. When planted in autumn, the plant does not have time to get stronger enough and may die in winter. In the case of a late acquisition of weigela, it is better to dig a seedling in the garden, sprinkling the crown in half with loose soil. In this state, a young plant can easily overwinter.
Site selection and preparation of soil
To grow weigela Minor Black, you need to choose a place illuminated by the sun for most of the day. With a lack of light, the branches of the plant quickly become woody. Such a bush almost does not bloom.
A shrub with fragile branches and delicate flowers suffers greatly from the wind. Therefore, the place for planting weigela should be protected from drafts.
The soil for flowering weigela Minor Black needs alkaline or neutral. Be sure to make a drainage layer to avoid stagnant moisture and acidification of the soil. The composition of the soil must be saturated with nutrients.
Weigela develops well and blooms, growing on loose soils. Therefore, when planting, it is desirable to add perlite, foam plastic or any other fine-grained drainage mixture to the soil. The soil should consist of sand and sod land in equal proportions. For nutrition, you need to add part of the compost or well-rotted manure.
How to plant
Weigela bushes Minor Black are planted at a distance of about a meter from each other and from neighboring shrubs. If the plant is located near buildings, then you need to retreat 1,5 – 2 m to ensure access to it from all sides.
The hole for planting weigela Minor Black should be about 50 cm deep. The grown weigela has a fairly large root system. It is recommended to make a landing hole in the form of a square with a side of 50 – 60 cm. The sequence of actions:
- Lay drainage at the bottom with a layer of about 15 – 20 cm of broken tiles, large pebbles or other coarse-grained mixture.
- Add nitroammophoska and humus to the prepared soil mixture if the soil is not fertile enough.
- Plant the seedling vertically.
- The soil should be sprinkled evenly around the rhizome, lightly tamping.
- Liberally pour.
- Mulch the trunk circle with sawdust, peat or compost.
When planting weigela Minor Black, you need to pay attention to the location of the root neck. It is important that it is not below ground level.
Growing rules
Caring for Weigela Minor Black is not difficult. The main thing is that the soil is always loose and sufficiently moist.
Watering
Bushes need to be watered regularly. It is important to ensure that moisture does not stagnate in the trunk circle. An adult bush requires up to 10 – 15 liters of water. In the dry summer period, watering is carried out more often.
Additional fertilizing
Blooming weigela Minor Black is demanding on soil fertility. But, if the plant is overfed, or the fertilizer is applied incorrectly, then flowering may not be expected.
The first top dressing is carried out in early spring. Sometimes fertilizers are applied before the snow cover melts. But experts consider this method ineffective. Together with melt water, the fertilizer will disperse over the site. Weigela such feeding is not enough for awakening and nutrition.
You can feed the fertilizer in the spring with dry preparations that need to be poured into the near-trunk circle of each bush. An adult plant requires approximately 50 g of a mixture of urea, superphosphate and potassium salt in a ratio of 2:2:1.
The next top dressing should help the shrub form flower buds. This requires about 50 g of superphosphate and potassium sulfate in equal proportions per bush. Top dressing is best done with a liquid nutrient solution under the root.
To prepare weigels for frost, the last fertilization of the season is carried out. You can use complex potassium preparations. Some gardeners make wood ash at the rate of 1 cup per 1 sq.m when digging the area around the bush.
Loosening, mulching
Weigela develops well and blooms luxuriantly, growing on loose soil. After watering, it is necessary to loosen the near-stem circle each time to a depth of 10 cm.
In order not to waste time and effort on maintaining the friability of the site for weigela, you can mulch the near-stem circle after watering with a thick layer. Mulch is made from a mixture of sawdust, compost and peat. The layer can be up to 10 cm.
Pruning, crown formation
The main work on caring for Weigela Minor Black consists in regular pruning of the shrub to form a crown and maintain the health of the plant.
Pruning is carried out after flowering. It is necessary to remove old branches and shorten half of the young shoots to give the bush the correct shape. Re-pruning with the normal development of the plant is required no more often than after 2-3 years.
Weigela sanitary pruning is carried out in the spring. At the same time, dry and damaged branches are completely removed.
Be sure to process the cuts on the branches with garden pitch or resin. Weigela is prone to fungal diseases, the pathogens of which can penetrate through cuts and wounds on wood.
Preparation for winter
The main problem when growing weigela Minor Black in open ground is its strong sensitivity to cold. The plant must be covered for the winter. Due to the low winter hardiness of Weigela Minor Black, the culture is not recommended for planting in the northern regions.
Before the onset of frost, the trunk circle is covered with a thick layer of compost. The branches of the plant must be carefully pulled together with twine or wire. After wrapping with kraft paper, agrospan or other insulating material.
Rodents are a danger to the plant in winter. To protect the bush from mice, it is necessary to compact the snow in the trunk circle. You can pour water around the weigela. Then the mice will not be able to get to the plant through the layer of ice.
In early spring, be sure to shake off heavy wet snow from the weigela shelter. Its fragile branches easily break under the weight of the snow mass.
Pests and diseases
Early leaf fall, spots and light plaque on the plates of the weigela Minor Black signal that the weigela is infected with gray rot, rust or spotting.
To combat the fungus, Bordeaux liquid is used. The drug is diluted according to the instructions and sprayed on the leaves.
If weigela was struck by root cancer, then you will have to part with the bush. This disease spreads quickly and can affect any plant in the garden. In order not to risk the health of pets, a diseased plant must be urgently dug up and burned.
Thrips, aphids and spider mites often infect Weigela Minor Black bushes. To combat them, you can use any insecticide that is sold to protect against leaf-eating insects.
Conclusion
Weigela Minor Black looks spectacular in any garden combinations. Gardeners say that the only difficulty in caring for a shrub is proper preparation for winter. Weigela will thank for the labors with a lush double flowering.
