New at Our Little Acre - Weigela 'French Lace'

Weigelas and I have a history. The first time I noticed one was several years ago when a beautiful variegated cultivar was in full bloom in my mother-in-law's yard. It was stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous and I asked her about it.

My father-in-law was the one in that family that enjoyed growing things, and he kept a journal of sorts with the original labels and the dates things were planted. But this one wasn't in there and neither my mother-in-law nor I knew what it was. I hadn't yet started gardening in earnest, so I took a sprig of leaves and a flower home with me and tried to identify it.

It was a variegated weigela, cultivar unknown. Shortly after that, I purchased two 'Wine and Roses' shrubs. Although that particular cultivar has dark burgundy foliage, the flowers were much the same, and the first year we had them, they bloomed profusely. The next year, they didn't bloom at all! To make a long story short, I learned that these shrubs are of the sort that bloom on old wood. I was pruning them in the spring, thereby cutting off the new blooms.

In the meantime, I'd found a nice variegated weigela with pink flowers at Lowe's and brought it home (pictured at right). This spring, we decided to move it to a new location. It seemed to survive the move okay, but a few weeks later it dropped all its leaves and died.

Both Romie and I were disappointed to have lost this shrub, and I kept my eyes open for a replacement. 'My Monet' was a possibility and I'd seen 'Ghost' online, but when I saw 'French Lace' a couple of weeks ago at Beining Nursery, I decided that it would be the new variegated weigela for us. The leaves are green and gold, which provides a nice backdrop for its dark red flowers.

Weigela florida 'French Lace' (a.k.a. 'Brigela')

Zone: 4-8
Height: 4-6'
Spread: 4'
Exposure: Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Prefers well-drained acidic