Weigela Dwarf Group

'Ara'

One of several introductions from the Czech Republic in recent years, this was raised at the Silva Tarauca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Pruhonice. It grows to c. 0.9 m tall and broad, has light red flowers, and is of compact habit (Hoffmann 2007).

'Courtanin'

A sport of W. ‘Le Printemps’ selected at the INRA in Angers, France, during the 20th century. It makes a fairly low shrub with medium-sized red flowers (Hoffmann 2007). In his 2007 paper, Hoffmann places this selection in the Red Flowered Group, but in the 2008 paper it has been reassigned to the Dwarf Group (Hoffmann 2008).

'Cumula'

A dwarf and compact clone, to 0.75 m tall and c. 1 m broad with rose-red flowers. Raised at the Silva Tarauca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Czech Republic, c. 2007 (Hoffmann 2007).

'Full Colour'

A name listed by Hoffmann (2007) but with no further details.

'Minuet'

A compact shrub raised at the Ottawa Research Station in 1981, growing to 0.5 × 0.7 m with purple-pink flowers to 2.5 cm across when fully open. One of the earliest dwarf selections, it has since been surpassed by others such as W. ‘Cumula’, ‘Taura’ and ‘Vega’ – in trials at Boskoop ‘Minuet’ was found to compare unfavourably on account of its irregular growth habit (Hoffmann 2007).

'Plangen'

A low, compact shrub with pink flowers, growing as wide as tall. Raised in the Czech Republic in c. 1998, where it has been an important contributor to breeding programmes aimed at producing smaller selections. W. ‘Piccolo’ is probably a synonym (Hoffmann 2007).

'Taura'

One of many selections, including several dwarf-group cultivars, released by the Silva Tarauca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Czech Republic, this one in 2007. ‘Taura’ is a particularly small selection, to 0.65 m tall and broad, with rose-red flowers (Hoffmann 2007).

'Vega'

A dwarf compact shrub, broader than tall, with purple-red flowers (Hoffmann 2007).

'Verweig'

A compact selection, 0.3–0.7 m × c. 0.6 m. Leaves with a broad white margin, and a red-pink tinge when young. Raised by Bert Verhoef in the Netherlands in the early 2000s (Hatch 2018–2020). Although this is a variegated clone it is not classified within the Variegata Group – Hoffmann’s key to the Groups allows for variegated foliage in selections classified in the Dwarf Group, with priority given to the ultimate size of the plant (Hoffmann 2008) – Hatch reports it is ‘one of the finest variegates in the genus to date’.

'Verweig 2'

A sturdy, relatively compact shrub to 0.8 × 1.1 m with rather small, purple-pink flowers opening to c. 2 cm wide. The foliage is unique amongst the dwarf group in being yellow-green with a purple-red hue around the margin, which ought to make it a desirable plant, but it is relatively sparsely flowered compared to other selections and the foliage is prone to scorching in intense sun (Hoffmann 2007).