Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela

Most weigela bushes are mound-shaped, with arching branches. So it was super-exciting to see a brand-new variety appear that is a unique breakthrough in shape, making a bold upright bush, not a mound. This brings weigela into the spotlight for smaller gardens and smaller spaces, now that you can achieve a 6-foot shrub that is hardly more than 3 feet wide – amazing. These new varieties are amazingly floriferous too, with blooms all along the upright stems for 3 months of the year. We especially love the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela, because we love red – and we know many gardeners do too. If you are a pink lover, check out the Apple Blossom Towers of Flowers® Weigela – just as wonderful, but with delicious shell-pink blooms. Either way, you are sure of a delicious and colorful addition to your garden, that’s going to bring color and many new options for using weigela. It may look exotic, but this is a very easy plant to grow almost everywhere.

Growing the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela

Size and Appearance

The Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela is an upright deciduous shrub with many branches growing from the base, quickly forming a shrub that is 4 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. With staking and trimming it can be kept narrower. It is fast-growing, reaching 3 feet tall in its second year, and full-size within a couple more years. Leaves grow all along new stems, and in clusters along older stems. The leaves are ovals that sit more-or-less directly on the stem, about 3½ inches long and 1½ inches wide. They are mid-green with a smooth matt surface, prominent veins, and a short pointed tip. Young leaves have an attractive bronzy-red toning, which adds early brightness before blooming begins.

Flowers develop in clusters of up to 8 buds all along the stems, creating a real ‘tower of flowers’. Every place there are leaves on the stems there will be multiple flowers. Flowering begins as early as April in warmer zones, and continues all through May and June, tapering off through July. That is 3 months of blooming, a really strong display for any flowering shrub, and a big part of the reason these plants are proving so popular. The blooms are trumpet-shaped, 1-inch long and 1¼-inch wide, with a mouth flaring out into 5 rounded lobes. These are large blooms, and very showy, scarlet-red on both the outside and inside of the flower, accented by prominent pure-white flower parts. The flowers are attractive to pollinators and hummingbirds.

Using the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela in Your Garden

With this great new variety you can have beautiful upright blooming bushes so quickly and so easily. Use it in shrub beds, or tuck it into those awkward spots that often develop as your garden matures, where you need height but not much width. Use it against a fence or wall – it can easily be tied in or attached to a few canes to make a more formal look. Plant it at the end of a pathway as an accent. Grow a row for a fabulous hedge – space plants 18 to 24 inches apart. It is also wonderful in planters and pots, surrounded by complimentary trailing plants, or even all alone for a striking display.

Hardiness

The Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela is hardy in all warmer zones, from zone 6 through zone 8. In warmer parts of zone 9 there is a possibility that the lack of enough winter cold will inhibit the development of flower buds.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is ideal for the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela, and it will also grow in a spot with an hour or two of shade each day – too much will reduce blooming. It grows well in most garden soils, as long as they are well-drained, and that includes rough urban soils, poor soil and clays – just avoid wet spots.

Maintenance and Pruning

Pests or diseases are normally never an issue with the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela. Neither are deer, although those critters are always unpredictable. All weigela bloom on older stems, so pruning is needed for the best results. After the main flush of blooms is over, trim back older stems that have bloomed, to stimulate new stems to replace them. Remove a quarter to a third of the stem, but once your plant is older, also remove one or two of the oldest stems right at the ground – you will see that they are not flowering as well as they used to. Avoid trimming new stems – that reduces flowering for next year. With this column-form plant you can use stakes to keep the stems boldly upright, making a more formal tower – blooms will form almost to the ground.

History and Origin of the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela

No, Weigela florida didn’t come from Florida, the name means ‘florid’ (bright red). This plant grows wild in China, Korea and Japan. It was introduced into Europe around 1845 and immediately became popular – as it still is today. Many garden forms have been created, sometimes with other weigela species, so most are hybrids to some extent. The variety officially called ‘TMWG16-04’ was created in England by Charles Valin. He is a Frenchman who has been the chief plant breeder for the major English firm of Thomson & Morgan for 10 years. In 2013 the Royal Horticultural Society honored him with the Reginald Cory Memorial Cup, a award for breeders who introduce exciting new varieties. He grew seed from a hot-pink weigela called ‘Alexandra’ and in 2014 planted those seedlings beside a plant of one of his own varieties (`WG13003`). From the seed he collected from his own plant he grew many seedlings, and in 2016 selected one to be ‘TMWG16-04’. It was patented in 2020. PlantHaven International of Santa Barbara California, have added it to their existing range of plants that have the trademark name of Towers of Flowers®, as Cherry, because if its delicious color.

Buying the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela at the Tree Center

If you love bold upright plants, you are going to love the Cherry Towers Of Flowers® Weigela – we sure do – they already look great in the pots. Get ready for a towering season of blooms that puts a cherry on the top of your gardening efforts. Don’t hesitate to order, though, as these plants will soon be gone.