Weigela florida Carlton'

Weigela florida Carlton, also known as Weigela 'Ghost', is a shrub appreciated for its particularly generous colourful flowering and its changing foliage colour. It is a particularly decorative variety both in a shrub bed and in a small flowering hedge. Its flowering attracts many pollinators and it is easy to maintain.

The Weigela (or Weigelia) genus comprises about a dozen species of deciduous shrubs, with a spreading or upright habit, growing in thickets and on the edge of forests in eastern Asia. It belongs to the Caprifoliaceae family, like Abelia, Heptacodium, Leycesteria, Lonicera, or Symphoricarpos. The name Weigela comes from Weigel, with the suffix -a or -ia, created in memory of the German professor and botanist Christian Ehrenfield von Weigel (1748-1831).

Weigela florida Carlton is a variety developed by the breeder Carlton that combines unique foliage with perpetual flowering. This bush with a rounded and bushy habit reaches a height of 1.2 to 1.8 m and a width of 90 cm to 1.2 m. Its pinkish-red bell-shaped flowers appear in clusters in May-June, and then more sporadically until autumn if the soil does not dry out too much. The foliage changes from yellowish-green in spring to buttery yellow in summer, then becomes very pale, almost white in autumn before falling. The leaves are elliptical, and the branches of this bush are covered with smooth, greyish bark.

Weigela 'Carlton' is a vigorous and hardy bush, resistant to temperatures down to -30°C. It thrives in ordinary soil, moist, and well-drained. This variety can be used in a mixed hedge or at the back of perennial beds. In a small garden, this bush can also be planted in the centre of a flower bed. Among possible associations are Buddleja davidii 'Argus White' (white butterfly bush), all white-flowering spireas, mock oranges, and many other hedge shrubs.