Dark Horse Weigela is one of the loveliest shrubs that can beautify your garden. With the right care and trim, this type of weigela can give a dramatic look in a landscape.
Normal Weigela is a native to Japan, Korea, and Northern China with its typical rounded perennial shrub that can grow up to 8 feet in height. The leaves of weigela vary, from green-white and purple to nearly black with pink or red flowers.
Weigela Dark Horse is an excellent spring shrub with beautiful features, pretty flowers that contrast with the leaves dark colors. This weigela grows 3 feet tall and wide, has foliage dark leaves color (purplish and almost black), which usually shed in fall after blooming in autumn, and has bell-shaped dark pink flowers in full bloom that can attract hummingbirds, bees, butterflies since it is a good food source for them.
This shrub is easy to maintain, makes it perfect for garden or accent or shrub border.
Planting & Caring the “Dark Horse”
This deciduous shrub is low maintenance plant that loves sun. You can plant it in well-drained soil. Although “Dark Horse” can live in a shade, to grow abundance and beautiful flowers, the shrub needs sun as much as possible.
On the first growth, water the “Dark Horse” deeply and regularly to give the shrub widespread and strong root system. On the next growth, you can water the “Dark Horse” once a week; this is for normal weather. But in a hot climate, this shrub will need regular watering.
Just like other living being, this weigela “Dark Horse” needs to be fed with fertilizer to grow a healthy and beautiful flower. You don’t need to fertilize the shrub too often though, just a slow-adding fertilizer at a time to help the plant produce a good blooming.
To fertilize the soil, mix a quarter cup of fertilizer into the shrub root area. Be careful not to plow too deeply because the root can be damaged. The weigela “Dark Horse” is insect-and-pest-free when growing in well drained soil, so you don’t need to spray the plant with pesticide.
Trimming the “Dark Horse”
Trimming for shrub is important to control the size with each growth. The best time to trim “Dark Horse” shrub is after the shrub finished blooming, usually in late spring, which means that you trim the weigela shrub before the plant has a chance to grow since the flowers grow on an old wood. This is to avoid out-of-control shrub size and trimming the next bloom accidentally.
To control the size, cut 1/3 on each branch each season. Also, remove the old branches at ground level. These prunes will help with the produce of strong new growth. Trimming can also shape the shrub just like what you want them to be shaped once you are done with the trimming. You can use hand trimmers to get the best result compare to using hedge clippers.
If you want something that stand out, give dramatic contrast, and easy maintenance plant in your garden or as a border, you can choose this Dark Horse Weigela.