Weigel Middendorf

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Weigela Middendorf (lat. Weigela middendorffiana) - a flowering ornamental shrub of the Weigela genus of the Honeysuckle family. In nature, it grows in Northeast China, Japan, Primorsky Krai and Sakhalin. Typical places are stony placers, fields, edges, upper reaches of hollows and springs, gentle slopes, coastal zones.

Characteristics of culture

Weigela Middendorf is a deciduous shrub up to 2.5 m high with a superficial root system and a proportional broad-oval crown. Leaves are green, leathery, oblong-ovate or oblong-elliptical, pointed at the ends. Flowers are medium-sized, bell-funnel-shaped, yellow or yellowish-white, with purple or orange specks in the fauces, solitary or collected in few-flowered inflorescences. The fruit is an elongated capsule containing small winged seeds. Weigela Middendorf blooms in early May, flowering duration is 25-30 days. Often, the culture blooms again at the end of summer. The seeds ripen in September-October.

Growing conditions

Weigela Middendorf is photophilous, like all her closest relatives. It blooms profusely and actively develops in open sunny areas, accepts a light openwork shade. In the dense shade, weigels are delayed in growth, the shoots do not have time to mature before the onset of stable cold weather and freeze under severe winters. The culture is demanding on soil conditions.

The soils are preferable fresh, loose, moderately moist, fertile. The optimal soil mixture is composed of turf, humus and sand in a ratio of 1: 2: 2. Drainage is welcome. Weigela Middendorf has a negative attitude to the action of cold northern winds, when choosing a place for planting shrubs, this important factor should be taken into account.

Reproduction and planting

Most often, Middendorf's weigela is propagated by seeds and cuttings. Sowing is carried out in the spring. Seeds do not need preliminary preparation. You can sow seeds both in open ground and in seedling boxes. Immediately after sowing, the soil is abundantly moistened and covered with glass or plastic wrap. Seedlings appear in 20-25 days. The dive is carried out in the phase of two true leaves. By autumn, seedlings form one stem up to 7 cm high and 3-4 pairs of leaves. Strengthened seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place no earlier than 2 years later. Underdeveloped specimens are left for growing.

Varietal and hybrid forms are recommended to be propagated by green or lignified cuttings. Green cuttings are cut in the spring (before the flower buds are laid). Each stalk must have one internode with two pairs of leaves. The top cut should be oblique, the bottom straight. For cutting, use only disinfected garden tools. Before planting for rooting, the cuttings are treated with growth stimulants and placed in a dark, well-ventilated room with an air temperature of 18-20C for 12-18 hours. Cuttings are planted in a greenhouse or any container filled with a sand-peat mixture. Cuttings take root after 30-40 days, subject to regular moisture and optimal conditions.

Wood grafting is ineffective, therefore it is used extremely rarely. If it was decided to propagate the culture in this way, then the cuttings are cut from the lignified shoots in March-April. The optimal cutting length is 20-22 cm. The cuttings are rooted in containers with a substrate made up of sod land and coarse river sand. As well as green cuttings, lignified ones need preliminary treatment with preparations that accelerate the growth and development of the root system. After 30-40 days, mullein and liquid mineral fertilizers are added to the substrate. The transplant of formed young plants to a permanent place is carried out after 1, 5-2 years (in both cases: both green and lignified cuttings).

The dimensions of the landing pit are 50 * 50. The distance between plants should be 2-3 m. When planting a seedling, the root collar is not buried, leaving it at the level of the soil surface. At the bottom of the pit, a good drainage is formed with a layer of 15-20 cm. A favorable planting time is April. Autumn planting is not prohibited, but not desirable, since plants do not always have time to take root in a new place before the onset of frost, freeze and subsequently die. After planting, the soil must be carefully compacted, watered abundantly and mulched with peat or sawdust.

Care

With the onset of spring, a complex mineral fertilizer is scattered over the melting snow around the plants, the next top dressing is carried out in the phase of the formation of flower buds. Loosening and weeding is carried out immediately after watering, the depth of loosening is 5-6 cm. Water the weigela as needed at the rate of 7-10 liters per bush. In a drought, the amount of watering is doubled.

Weigela Middendorf needs annual sanitary pruning, which involves removing dry, frost-damaged and broken shoots. Preventive treatments against pests are encouraged. Aphids are the most common pest of crops; infusions of garlic and hot pepper, as well as a solution of nicotine sulfate, are effective against it. For the winter, shrubs are tied up, bent to the soil surface and covered with lutrasil or spruce branches.