The Best Time to Prune Wiegelia

Pruning Time

• Weigela shrubs produce flowers twice a year, once in the spring and often again during the summer. The best time to prune weigela is just after shrub finishes the spring blooming period, cite Carroll Shry and H. Edward Reiley in "Introductory Horticulture." If pruned before spring flowering, the newly developing flowers are damaged, resulting in little or no blooms for the season.

Pruning Purpose

• Pruning increases shrubs' flowering capacity. Flowering shrubs, such as weigela, become woody and stop producing new growth or flower buds if not regularly pruned. Weigela flower buds develop between the middle of the summer and the fall. Later pruning damages these new buds and reduces spring flowering.

Deadheading

• Deadheading is a pruning method recommended for spring-flowering shrubs like weigela, as cited by the Colorado State University Extension. Deadheading is continually removing spent flowers throughout the blooming period. This is in addition to regular yearly pruning. Deadheading spent flowers helps conserve the plant's energy that is otherwise needlessly spent seedpod and seed production following flowering.

Rejuvenation Pruning

• Weigela shrubs have the tendency to develop a gangly and woody appearance after 3 to 5 years despite regular pruning. Rejuvenation pruning helps revive the plant. Rejuvenation pruning is cutting the shrub to the ground in early spring before new growth starts. When the shrub starts grow again, the growth is compact and shrublike with increased flowering. In the couple of years following rejuvenation pruning, cutting the weaker canes to the ground keeps growth healthy.