I purchased a weigela bush maybe a month ago. When I planted it I dug a hole bigger than the pot it came in and when I put it in I added potting soil to help enrich the dirt surrounding it. It gets watered daily by a misting system that I added with my drip system for the trees that are near it. When I bought it there were plenty of blooms on it but after a week they died off so I deadheaded it but now the leaves are dry and falling off. What am I doing wrong??!

Once they bloom, they generally are done blooming for the year. Is it really hot where you at right now? The misting system is probably not getting any water to the roots really. Have you poked down inside around it to see if water is actually down to the roots? I don't like auto water systems personally. I like to hand water so I can control what each plant gets, there is no waste that way and some plants like more water than others. This bush will eventually get large and a mist system will probably not be enough.

Your plant could just be in shock from transplanting it. I would wait another couple of months and see if it puts out any new leaves. It might also be getting too much water I would look to see if your soil is wet all the time. and most of the time when you plant new shrubs or trees you don't want to enrich the soil with potting mix or any other kind it can be it can cause the plant to become root bound in the in enrich soil always use native soil. I don't know if that will help you any. But good luck with your new weigela.

I too would just wait it out. Sometimes things look bad for a while and go down hill first. It may just need time to root and become more established. Even if it looks dead, I would continue to care for it. It may come back nicely next spring. Do mulch it over the winter.

Hi Fay, welcome to ATP. Sorry you are having problems with your weigela.

You say it gets watered daily by a misting system. It would seem to me that the leaves would be getting wet, but perhaps not the roots. When you transplant a shrub from container to ground, it is necessary for the plant's root system to receive adequate water and that is generally achieved by either regular rainfall or hand watering/irrigation that provides about 1 inch of water a week.

You say there are trees nearby, and they are notorious for using up as much water as is available to them. They may be soaking up what water is being put down for your shrub. I would recommend moving a bit of soil around your shrub and checking it for moisture 3 to 4 inches below the surface.. It is also possible that the mister is wetting the leaves and they are scalding in the sun.

It would be very useful if you could post pictures of the plant, its' surrounding plantings and a close-up of the leaves themselves.

The plant is only watered for 10 minutes in the evening, so I don't think they are being scorched by the sun. I will check in the morning for how moist the soil feels. I will also maybe install its own personal drip that goes to the base of the plant if the soil is dry.

Should I cut back any dead branches or just remove the dead leaves?? I will try to post pictures tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions!!!

Did it survive?

Hi @Howiesbabies and

The original poster has not posted back on this site since June 2015 so she probably won't be replying unless she happens to visit again.

I have 3 in different parts of the yard and none of `em are happy.
Time to look them up.Thanks for the reminder guys