Weigela florida Big Love

Weigela florida Big Love is a new variety that is particularly compact, very floriferous and delicately coloured, perfectly suited for cultivation in pots or embellishing small spaces. Its beautiful flowers, a soft purple pink, bloom profusely for several weeks between the end of spring and summer. This shrub will bring a lot of cheerfulness to a rustic or romantic flower bed and will enliven the terrace or balcony for a good part of the year.

Originally from northern China, Japan and Korea, Weigela florida is a deciduous shrub belonging to the Caprifoliaceae family. This calcicolous (preferring calcareous soils) shrub has a fibrous and tracing root system, which perfectly supports transplantation. The 'Big Love' cultivar has recently been selected for its small size and floribundity. This shrub has an upright, rounded and bushy habit, and forms a ramified bush that will ultimately not exceed 80 cm (32 in) in height. Its medium-green foliage remains attractive from spring to autumn. It consists of ovate to elliptical leaves that are sessile (without petioles and directly attached to the branches) and pubescent on the underside. Flowering begins in May-June and continues until August. Its funnel-shaped flowers have an intermediate colour between pink and violet. They are carried in corymbs at the end of the branches from the previous year and the current year. This flowering is also highly melliferous and nectariferous.

Hardy down to -20 °C (-4 °F), Weigela 'Big Love' will thrive in many regions, in sunny or semi-shaded conditions, in an ordinary soil that remains fresh but well drained. This small-sized variety that forms a ball of flowers brings a lot of charm to the garden, as well as to the terrace. In a flower bed, for example, combine it with Physocarpus, pheasant trees (Leycesteria formosa), ornamental brambles, a small viburnum chosen for its autumn colours (Viburnum 'Bailey Compact'), or a Purple Nana Barberry. In the background, the very dark foliage of holly, mahonia or yew will create a beautiful setting for its flowers and provide winter decor.