Weigela 'Red Prince'
Hardy Deciduous Flowering Shrub
Overview
Weigela 'Red Prince' is an exceptional flowering shrub that brings bold, non-fading colour to any garden setting. This hardy deciduous beauty is renowned for producing masses of brilliant red trumpet-shaped flowers that create spectacular spring displays, often followed by an encore performance in late summer. Perfect for today's busy gardeners, 'Red Prince' combines striking visual impact with remarkable hardiness and low maintenance requirements.
Key Features & Benefits
Exceptional Cold Hardiness: Recognised as one of the hardiest weigela varieties available, making it reliable even in challenging climates.
Non-Fading Blooms: Brilliant red flowers maintain their intense colour throughout the flowering season without fading in strong sunlight.
Extended Flowering: Strong tendency for secondary blooms in late summer, providing two distinct flowering periods each year.
Hummingbird Magnet: Trumpet-shaped flowers act like magnets for hummingbirds, bees, and other beneficial pollinators.
Easy Care: Undemanding shrub that establishes quickly and requires minimal ongoing maintenance once settled.
Plant Specifications
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Botanical Name: Weigela florida 'Red Prince'
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Common Name: Red Prince Weigela
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Plant Type: Multi-stemmed deciduous flowering shrub
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Mature Size: 1.5m tall by 1.5m wide
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Growth Habit: Upright when young, developing gracefully arching branches at maturity
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Hardiness Zones: Fully hardy
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Growth Rate: Fast-growing
Flowering & Seasonal Interest
Primary Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (May-June)
Secondary Bloom: Late summer reblooming period
Flower Colour: Brilliant, non-fading red trumpet-shaped blooms
Flower Form: Small clusters of tubular flowers covering the entire shrub during peak bloom
Foliage: Fresh green, oval-shaped leaves provide clean backdrop for flowers
Seasonal Changes: Attractive green foliage throughout growing season with graceful winter silhouette
Growing Conditions & Care
Light Requirements
Thrives in full sun for best flowering performance and colour intensity. Will tolerate very light shade, though flowering may be somewhat reduced.
Soil Preferences
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils. Adapts to various soil conditions including clay, loam, and sandy soils. Prefers well-drained conditions but tolerates a wide pH range.
Watering Needs
Requires even moisture, particularly during establishment. Once mature, shows good drought tolerance but performs best with consistent moisture during dry spells.
Fertilising
Apply balanced general-purpose fertiliser in early spring before new growth begins. Avoid excessive feeding, which can reduce flowering and compromise winter hardiness.
Pruning
Prune to shape immediately after the main flowering period ends. Remove approximately one-third of the oldest canes annually to encourage vigorous new growth. Avoid late-season pruning as this removes next year's flower buds.
Garden Uses & Design Ideas
Specimen Planting: Makes a stunning focal point when planted individually, particularly during peak bloom periods
Mixed Borders: Excellent backbone plant for perennial and mixed shrub borders
Foundation Plantings: Ideal scale for foundation plantings around homes and buildings
Wildlife Gardens: Perfect centrepiece for pollinator-friendly and wildlife habitat gardens
Cottage Gardens: Fits beautifully into informal, cottage-style garden designs
Mass Plantings: Effective when planted in groups for dramatic seasonal impact
Companion Planting Ideas
Complementary Plants: Pairs exceptionally well with:
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White or pale pink flowering shrubs for colour contrast
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Silver-leaved perennials like artemisia or lamb's ear
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Yellow flowering plants such as coreopsis or black-eyed Susan
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Spring bulbs for extended seasonal interest
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Ornamental grasses for textural contrast
Wildlife & Environmental Benefits
Pollinator Support: Highly attractive to hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects throughout both flowering periods
Low Environmental Impact: Minimal water and chemical requirements once established make it an environmentally responsible choice
Urban Tolerance: Shows good tolerance of urban pollution and challenging growing conditions
Pest Resistance: Generally resistant to common garden pests and diseases
Why Choose Weigela 'Red Prince'?
'Red Prince' stands out as one of the most reliable and spectacular flowering shrubs available to home gardeners. Its exceptional hardiness makes it suitable for challenging climates where many other weigelas might struggle, whilst its non-fading flower colour ensures consistent beauty throughout the growing season.
The shrub's tendency to rebloom in late summer sets it apart from many single-season flowering plants, providing excellent value and extended garden interest. This characteristic, combined with its strong attraction to hummingbirds and other pollinators, makes it an ideal choice for wildlife-friendly gardens.
Perhaps most importantly for busy gardeners, 'Red Prince' delivers maximum visual impact with minimal maintenance requirements. Once established, this hardy shrub reliably produces stunning displays year after year with just annual pruning and basic care.
The mature size makes it perfectly suited to modern garden spaces, whilst its graceful arching habit adds elegant structure to any landscape design. Whether used as a specimen plant or incorporated into mixed plantings, 'Red Prince' consistently delivers the bold statement that makes gardens memorable.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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In stock
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£14.99 |