I know I probably butchered the spelling there. I have Red Prince and I planted a row of these spring 14. This summer they grew very leggy long tall branches. Bloomed pretty. But now I am trying to work out there and they are all over the way. I know its probably not the ideal time of year to trim them back? But will it hurt them? I think they bloom on new wood from what I can see. They are probably 5 ft tall and I'd like to cut them off to about 2-3ft


TIA

I recently had to trim my Java WEIGELA back very short as we had some work done and they were in the way. They are already sprouting and look very healthy. I have trimmed them way back before when we had new siding put on our house, it did not hurt them a bit they grew back to normal size.

Hmm - I'm torn about pruning back any shrubs at about this time of year. We'll be due for average first frost in about a month and I hesitate to encourage any new growth by pruning. I did a pruning after mine bloomed this year and do have some new longer growth that I hesitate messing with.

well that is what I was wondering, w the frost date of mid Oct here, pruning may encourage new growth. I don't mind that if new growth occurs and is killed off. But will it actually kill the bush overall?

I don't think it will kill the bush overall as long as you're not doing a major pruning. Weigela blooms on old wood.

My bushes have been in place for around 15 years and are well established with large root systems. I often prune in fall and it has not hurt my bushes although I do not prune them as far back as I had to this fall. The normal pruning I have done in fall has never hurt the bushes as the rabbits trim them way back most winters which never hurts the bushes. I do sprinkle alfalfa pellets around those the rabbits chewed almost to the ground in spring to give them a boast to get a good start growing.

I try to limit my pruning to right after the shrub blooms. I will clip a few errant branches towards the end of summer. Or I'll wait until summer-blooming shrubs go dormant in early winter. With a lot of winter-kill the last two years, I've become a little more sensitive to when I prune shrubs.