Weigela Minor Black PPAF

Splendidly dark and rich, the foliage on this low-growing weigela offers a stunning contrast to all the green- and gold-leafed plants in the border. Minor Black keeps its color all season, complementing the charcoal tones with bright rosy-pink blooms that hummers and butterflies cannot resist. What a charming shrub for the foundation, the front of the border, or anywhere distinctive color and texture are sought.

Minor Black is both spreading and mounding, prepared to scramble across the soil or loll over rocks and other hilly elements in the garden. Never aggressive, it is a good neighbor to groundcovers and to small perennials, and makes a lovely foreground planting to shrubs and taller, rangier plants. The new spring foliage emerges nearly black, turning deep maroon to violet as the season progresses and the heat intensifies. By the heart of the summer, olive streaks may decorate the leaves, but the fundamental "black" cast of the foliage is never lost.

The blooms are a lovely contrast to the foliage on this dwarf shrub. Tubular, large, and carried in small clusters, they combine rose and pink tones for maximum showiness. They are shaped just right for a hummingbird's long beak, and butterflies also sip their sweet nectar for many weeks in late spring and early summer. If you are looking for a permanent home for your hummingbird feeder, you cannot do better than above this long-lived, heavy-blooming shrub.

Expect Minor Black to reach just 18 to 24 inches high and to spread perhaps 24 to 36 inches wide. Made for small spaces, it would also be a lovely choice as a repeated accent throughout the border or foundation, perhaps interspersed with an evergreen groundcover shrub or perennial that could take over the focus in late fall and winter, when this weigela has gone bare. Of course, it is also a splendid companion to butterfly- and hummingbird-attracting flowering perennials from achillea to salvia.

Select a place of honor for this low-growing shrub. Its size is modest but its beauty and usefulness immense.