Yellow bells - are these Weigela middendorffiana?

Discussion in 'Talk about UBC Botanical Garden' started by wcutler, May 6, 2021.

  1. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I did not find a label for these pale yellow bells, but @Nadia White Rock has come up with the name Weigela middendorffiana, which neither of us has posted with this name or any synonym I have seen, and which is not on my database listing or or Garden Explorer. Yet I see a photo of this plant with that name at May in the David C. Lam Asian Garden at UBC | Janet Davis Explores Colour (thepaintboxgarden.com), from 2017 (which, by the way, is a very good collection of May photos in the Asian Garden). And it looks familiar to me. I don't remember exactly where it is, but it must be very near a Rhododendron kesangiae and I think a wide path that leads up to a large group of R. augustinii on the east side. [Edited: Nadia says 3AE4]
    Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150143.jpg Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150153.jpg Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150205.jpg Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150259.jpg

    Weigela middendorffiana - Trees and Shrubs Online says, "Like W. maximowiczii it is yellow flowered, but distinguished by the two-lipped calyx, the hooded stigma and the connate anthers."
    This looks more like a three-lipped calyx to me, if I understand that term:
    Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150205c.jpg
    This shows the connate anthers, but I'm not sure about the hooded stigma.
    Weigela middendorffiana-YellowBells_UBCBG_Cutler_20210505_150153c.jpg
    There is a really clear photo of a hooded stigma on this species at Weigela middendorffiana (Carrière) K. Koch (coocan.jp), the middle photo. That page, however, says this species blooms in July to August. Blooming time in Japan should not be so different to what it is here, if cherries are anything to go by.
     
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  2. Douglas Justice

    Douglas Justice Well-Known Member UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society 10 Years

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    Yes, Weigela middendorffiana. Sometimes flowering as early as April 29 (e.g., last year).
     
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