The species of Weigela (apart from the two with yellow flowers) have been largely replaced in gardens by nursery-bred hybrids. This was true even in the early years of this century, when many hybrids were already available, some dating back to the 1860s. The species with the shortest life in gardens was W. praecox, which was thrown into the melting-pot as soon as it reached Lemoine’s nursery and produced its first hybrids only five years after it was named. This species, and the related W. florida, belong to the section Calysphyrum, in which the calyx is divided only in the upper half. The influence of one or the other shows in the incompletely divided calyx of so many hybrids. A completely divided calyx is shown only by hybrids in which the influence of W. coraeensis, W. floribunda or W. hortensis is dominant.
The dark red colouring of ‘Eva Rathke’ derives from W. floribunda and probably the later sorts in the same style were bred from it. These dark-coloured hybrids, and the reddish pink ‘Abel Carrière’ are the only ones to have received awards in this country, but they are much less effective in the garden than those with lighter coloured flowers. W. coraeensis has been an important parent, perhaps through its probable hybrid W. amabilis, contributing a many-flowered inflorescence and a tendency to glabrousness; its influence is often to be seen in a short corolla-tube, abruptly widening. Hybrids with the leaves densely and softly hairy beneath have W. hortensis in their parentage.
Most of the cultivated weigelas flower in early June. Not many of Lemoine’s May-flowering hybrids of W. praecox have found their way into British gardens, though some of the finest are among them, nearly all in light shades.
The hybrids need a good garden soil and are moisture-loving. For pruning, see the generic introduction. The following selection is confined to those that are in general commerce in this country, and a few others, old and new, that seem to deserve wider cultivation. The parentage, when given, is that suggested by Rehder. For three variegated hybrids, see under W. florida.
‘Abel Carriére’. Lemoine, 1876; W. florida × W. hortensis. – Flowers deep rosy carmine, opening from darker coloured buds, with a faint yellowish flare in the lower part of the throat. Style long-exserted. A.M. 1939.
‘Avalanche’. – See ‘Candida’.
‘Bristol Ruby’. – Flowers red from almost black buds. Vigorous and tall-growing. Raised in the USA, probably from ‘Eva Rathke’. A.M. 1954.
‘Candida’. – Flowers pure white even in the bud-stage. Leaves bright green, almost glabrous beneath, long-acuminate at the apex. Very near to W. coraeensis. It is also sold as ‘Avalanche’, but the Lemoine hybrid of that name had white flowers with a pink tinge; it was a hybrid of W. praecox.
A newer hybrid with almost pure white flowers is ‘Bristol Snowflake’, raised in the USA around 1955. It is more vigorous than ‘Candida’.
‘Conquête’. Lemoine, 1907. – Flowers very large, almost 2 in. wide at the mouth, deep rosy pink, slightly darker on the reverse. Sparse, spreading habit.
‘Dame Blanche’. Lemoine, 1900; W. coraeensis × W. hortensis. – Flowers white, tinged with pink on the outside. The buds are creamy white with a lilac flush.
‘Espérance’. Lemoine, 1906; W. praecox hybrid. – Flowers large, white flushed with salmon pink.
‘Eva Rathke’. – Flowers vivid crimson red from dark buds. Free-flowering to excess and weak-growing in consequence. An old hybrid of W. floribunda crossed with W. coraeensis, raised by Rathke of Praust near Danzig, in the 1880s. F.C.C. 1893. ‘Eva Supreme’ is the result of a cross between ‘Eva Rathke’ and ‘Newport Red’, raised at the Boskoop Experimental Station and released to the trade in 1960. It is similar in flower-colour but much more vigorous (Dendroflora, No. 1 (1964), p. 36).
‘Féerie’ (‘Fairy’). Lemoine, 1925. – Flowers uniform bright rosy pink, funnel-shaped, with a slender tube, in large trusses.
‘Floréal’. Lemoine, 1901. – Flowers clear rosy pink on the outside, with a deep, carmine pink throat. A hybrid of W. praecox flowering about mid-May.
Other pink-flowered hybrids of W. praecox raised by Lemoine, and flowering in May are: ‘Bouquet Rose’, ‘Fleur de Mai’ (one of the earliest), ‘Idéal’, ‘Le Printemps’, ‘Majestueux’, ’Séduction’.
‘Gustave Mallet’. Billiard; W. coraeensis × W. florida. – Flowers large, rosy pink with a paler limb, deep pink in the bud.
‘Looymansii Aurea’. – Leaves light golden-yellow in spring and early summer, with a very narrow red rim. Flowers light pink, with a slender tube. It was found in 1873 among seedlings of “W. amabilis” (q.v. under W. coraeensis) and shows the influence of W. florida in its calyx. Not vigorous, and best in light shade.
‘Newport Red’. – Similar to ‘Bristol Ruby’ but the flowers slightly lighter in colour; equally vigorous. Often known as ‘Vanicek’, it was raised by V. A. Vanicek, Newport, Rhode Island, USA in the 1930s.
‘Rosabella’. – Although as yet scarcely known in this country, this is stated to be a fine hybrid, with rose-coloured flowers, lighter on the limb, with flowers almost as large as in ‘Conquête’ and a stronger grower. It is the product of the cross between ‘Eva Rathke’ and ‘Newport Red’ made in Holland which also produced ‘Eva Supreme’ (see ‘Eva Rathke’).
‘Rosea’. – See under W. coraeensis.
‘Styriaca’. – Flowers small, carmine-rose, deeper in the bud, borne very freely on arching branches. Raised by W. Klenert, nurseryman of Graz, Austria, and put into commerce in 1908. It was a selection from several hundred seedlings, and was considered by Rehder to be W. coraeensis × W. floribunda.
‘Van Houttei’. – This may be the correct name for a hybrid between W. florida and W. hortensis, with light green leaves softly downy beneath. Flowers red in the bud, opening white flushed with apple-blossom pink inside, marbled with a slightly darker pink outside.