weigela companion plants

5 Weigela Companion Plants You Can Grow With

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“Wine and Roses” Weigela plants(Weigela Florida) are popular deciduous shrubs in gardens because they are easy to maintain and can form a beautiful backdrop for other colorful flowers you might have in your garden. These flowering shrubs can be gorgeous when they are in full bloom with an abundance of white, red, yellow, or pink flowers that bloom all over the shrubs from mid-spring until late spring but they can still produce flowers until mid- to early summer.

With their lovely pink flowers, “Wine and Roses” Weigelas can be paired with companion plants to enhance the beauty of this colorful foliage when it is not in bloom. This shrub can be paired with all sorts of plants like lilacs, catmint, peonies, onions, purple Japanese barberries, and hydrangeas.

It is usually best to do a bit of research before choosing the correct neighboring plants for your weigela foliage. Some foliage combinations offer a lot more benefits than others and choosing a perfect companion can help you make the most out of your gardens.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the top companion plant species to add to your garden.

What to Plant With Weigelas?

When companion planting with “Wine and Roses” Weigela plants, choose those with variegated foliage or burgundy foliage. These will stand out the best and offer the sharpest contrast to your “Wine and Roses” Weigela plants.

Aside from ornamental value, you may want to consider the environmental benefits of companion planting when you’re choosing where to plant weigela.

With its arching stems and gorgeous flowers, weigela florida plants are known to attract hummingbirds and all sorts of pollinating insects like wasps and butterflies because this flowering shrub produces a lot of scented flowers when it is in flowering season. These deciduous shrubs are not only great for the garden, but are beautiful to behold!

The non-toxic edible shrub is also pretty pest resistant but can sometimes be vulnerable to aphids, four-lined plant bugs, Japanese beetles, spider mites, and certain diseases.

Since weigelas can attract hummingbirds and beneficial insects, it is usually best to pair these ornamental plants with other garden foliage that will enhance the aesthetics of weigelas during winter, improve the soil, or combat pests weigela shrubs commonly struggle with.

When choosing options for companion planting, consider a few factors. First, what is the growing season? You may want to consider pairing weigela with plants that produce the most vibrant flower colors later in the season, like early fall, so you have color throughout the year in your flower beds.

You will also want to consider the conditions. “Wine and Roses” Weigela prefers well drained soil to prevent root rot. It is a low maintenance plant that requires minimal care, but does need full sun in order to thrive. You may want to choose plants like this to ensure that you have a low maintenance flower garden.

Some “Wine and Roses” Weigela companion plants include:

Catmint 

We just had to include catmint (Nepeta), also known as catnip on our list because this perennial shrub offers more than one benefit. 

Catnip will help keep your weigelas pest free because it produces a chemical called iridoids that repel a variety of insects like mosquitoes, flies, and spider mites. When catmint blooms during late spring to early summer, it will produce colorful flowering towers in lavender or white hues. These flowers can attract a lot of beneficial insects to your garden.

Catmint is also used as decorative foliage because it has a low stature and produces soft vibrant green leaves. Growing catmint in front of a darker weigela variety like midnight wine can help you create a striking garden bed with lots of contrast.

With two edible foliage varieties in your garden, you can experiment a lot with making your own tea blends. Catmint can also be used for making herbal tea and the leaves of the weigela plant are often used to flavor herbal teas. Some tea enthusiasts also add funnel-shaped flowers of the weigela plant on tea plates for ornamental purposes. 

Since catmint is low to the ground, it is usually best to grow them as a focal point in front of your weigela Florida shrubs or as borders around these deciduous shrub varieties. These herbs are proven winners with weigelas because they can handle hardiness zones of 3 – 9 and they do enjoy full sun.

Barberry

If you are looking for a good plant to grow in front of weigelas then you can consider the Japanese barberry shrub (Berberis thunbergii), or red barberry. This small shrub produces burgundy foliage during the growing season and is ideal for controlling weeds in your garden.

This plant is an ideal companion with weigelas because they require the same growing conditions with similar USDA plant hardiness zones and they are not too difficult to maintain. These plants with their silver or blue leaves or sometimes reddish leaves can help create contrast in your garden or can be used to create texture.

There are quite a few different ways to pair barberries and weigelas together. You can grow these hedges in front of your deciduous shrubs so the weigelas can create a good contrasting backdrop. You can also combine Japanese barberries and weigela varieties, along with other deciduous shrub varieties, with a similar mature height to create hedges. The darker foliage of barberry bushes alongside weigela bushes can create an interesting hedge. 

When you are considering Japanese barberries, it is very important to do some geographical research. This plant is considered an invasive species in certain regions.

Lilacs

Lilac plants (Syringa) are proven winners with tall varieties of weigela like the weigela Florida, wine and roses weigela, or sonic pink weigelas. This flowering shrub is well-known and is easy to find in most home and garden stores, with lilacs some of the most popular plants for sale in the early spring and early summer months.

Lilacs are bushes that enjoy sunlight and can grow up to 20 feet tall and produce beautiful purple flower bushes during early spring. Most lilac flowers are purple but some varieties produce white, pale yellow, or pink flowers.

These growths are ideal neighboring plants because they are evergreen perennials that don’t require a lot of care.

They can be planted in full sun and will cast a light shadow over the weigelas that might help these shrubs grow well in extremely hot and sunny areas. As with weigelas, lilacs also require well-drained soils and don’t require a lot of fertilizer.

Most gardeners prefer to combine weigelas and lilacs in the same gardens so your garden bed won’t look too bare when the weigelas lose their leaves during autumn and winter.

It is also best to pair lilacs with complimentary weigela colors like red flowers, pink flowers, or or even white flowers.

Peonies

peony field

Peonies (Peonia sp.) are a good option for those who prefer a low-maintenance garden because they are perennials that can stay in great shape for many years to come and older plants are pretty easy to transplant in any soil type.

It is best to grow peonies with dwarf weigela varieties like the dwarf blue spruce, dark horse weigela, midnight wine weigela, or my monet weigela shrub because these flowering plants can create a beautiful backdrop behind the weigelas when the perennials are in bloom. Since peonies only grow about 3 feet tall, you should either pair them with dwarf weigelas or grow the peonies in front of a tall variety of weigela.

Peonies bloom around the same time as weigelas do and a large plantation of peonies behind or in front of your weigela shrubs can create a striking effect, especially if you focus on contrasting color peony varieties. Peonies are found in all kinds of colors and typically appear in early spring, with the most common colors being red or pink flowers.

For example, if you have weigelas with red flowers or dark-colored flowers then a white peony like Miss America at the back can create a good contrasting color that will make your vibrant weigelas stand out even more.

You can grow peonies in full sun but too much sunlight can damage these shrubs. They need to be established in well-draining soil and will need to be watered regularly, although too much water can cause root rotting or fungal diseases.

You may also want to look into peony companion plants to help you select the best flower species for your peony garden.

Hydrangeas

blue hydrangea bush

The hydrangea (Hydrangea sp.) is a plant that many gardeners adore. There are over 75 varieties of hydrangea and many varieties are known for their attractive blooms with honeycomb designs. You can collect a huge variety of hydrangea varieties that produce blooms in white, green, blue, red, pink, purple, and dark blue. You can also manipulate the color of the blooms by adjusting the acidic level of the soil. For example, pink flowers are most common in alkaline soil.

Varieties of hydrangea with variegated foliage, like Mariesii Variegata, are often grown along with weigelas because they produce ornamental leaves that can create a striking effect next to your weigelas. This flowering shrub is the perfect compliment for slightly acidic soil, too.

Growing hydrangeas along with weigelas will lure plenty of pollinating insects like bees or other animals like hummingbirds to your garden. These plants are proven winners along with weigelas because they flourish in a hardiness zone 6.

When you are growing weigelas with hydrangeas, it is usually best to have small weigela varieties in the front. Hydrangeas can grow rather tall during the growing season and might overpower your weigelas, particularly when grown in full sun.

Particularly tall weigela varieties can be planted alongside hydrangeas to fill out a garden.

See more: What to plant next to hydrangea

Finding Friends for “Wine and Roses” Weigela is Easier Than You Think!

So there you have it! The best places to plant “Wine and Roses” Weigela in your garden, and which plants to grow it with.

If you want to learn more about other vegetation varieties or find out what plants to pair with other growths in your garden then you should have a look at some of our other guides.

*image by [email protected]/depositphotos

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