Hope I spelled this one right. I have seen it spelled various ways. What I need to know is do I cut it back for winter and do I cover it? Last year in the fall I cut another one down at this time but I think too much. It didn't survive. Thanks
Cutting it down takes most of the bloom away. If you think it needs protection, leave the stems and cover them with a suitable setup.
Re: Weigela, Here, we leave the stems on all winter and prune (if necessary) in spring. Cutting Weigela back will increase vigour and reduce size (of course) but too much shortens the shrubs life. We would never think of pruning before April, and then usually thin out old branches.
In keeping with the shortened life span (if that is the case - elsewhere in Britain it is being claimed pollarding trees increases their spans) vigor is actually decreased (temporarily) by hard-pruning. Rapid-growing, initially seldom-branching whippy replacement shoots produced in response to lopping give the appearance of increased shrub vigor, but actually overall size increase will be less (at first) than it was before the treatment. That is because the energy stored in any branch portions removed is immediately lost to the plant, plus its food-making foliage area has been decreased.
