Finally, a weigela with beautiful white blooms! Wine & Spirits™ weigela is just like our most popular Wine & Roses® variety but with white flowers instead of pink ones.
Wine & Spirits™ has dark burgundy-green foliage that isn’t quite as dark as that of Wine & Roses® but still quite dramatic, and it sets off the green-white spring flowers beautifully. Those flowers will mature to pure white and are extremely abundant.
If you were to design a plant for spring impulse sales (we did), it would be this one! We had a specimen in the office last week, and it was really, really distracting.
Hardy and adaptable
Wine & Spirits™ grows in USDA 4-8 and will do best in full sun. Like other weigela, it has good deer resistance and will grow in most soils, including alkaline ones.
It’s compact (3-5′ tall and wide), so doesn’t need heavy pruning, but removing the oldest branches every few years will encourage colorful new growth.
Meet the Breeder!
Wine & Spirits™ was bred by our very own Megan Mathey! Here she is with a beautiful example of the plant. When it was on display at the office last week, everyone was blown away by how fabulous it was.
Megan is a modern-day scientist, but check out this story of a lady who did amazing work for horticulture back when women were routinely shut out of scientific circles.
Thanks, Natalie. Now I want that shrub, and what a fascinating story you linked to. I had never heard of Marianne North!
Isn’t that an interesting story? And that shrub! I love it too. It just may be on my short list for garden communicator samples next year ;o)