Plant Library

Other Names:  Date Night Maroon Swoon Weigela

Group/Class:  Date Night Series

Brand:  Bloomin' Easy

Description:

A beautiful shrub that blooms all summer, into fall, featuring bold red trumpet-shaped flowers, over deep green foliage; attracts hummingbirds; great for the back of flower beds, or for patio pots

Ornamental Features

Maroon Swoon® Weigela features showy clusters of fragrant dark red trumpet-shaped flowers with creamy white anthers along the branches from early summer to early fall, which emerge from distinctive burgundy flower buds. It has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges burgundy in spring. The serrated pointy leaves do not develop any appreciable fall colour.

Landscape Attributes

Maroon Swoon® Weigela is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a shapely form and gracefully arching branches. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Maroon Swoon® Weigela is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Maroon Swoon® Weigela will grow to be about 5 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Maroon Swoon® Weigela makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.