Ok to plant Java Red Weigela now (late July)?

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CrazyWheaten Elgin, IL(Zone 5a) Jul 28, 2010

I saw my cousin's Minuet Weigela a week ago, fell in love, ran out to the nursery and bought 3 Java Reds. Then I realized.... I have no clue what I'm doing... I posted on another board asking if it's ok to plant them so late in the season and the response I got was that it would be a bad idea as temps in Chicago have been around 90 this month and to wait until mid-September. Would you agree with this? Just keep them potted until mid-September and kept in the shade? Also, as I said I purchased 3. The space I'm looking to put them in is approx. 6 ft. wide and my goal is to shape them over the next several years into a hedge as my cousin did. The guy at the nursery said they would fit "fine" in that space and to plant approx. 1 1/2 ft. apart. Is this right or is that too close together? ANY help/suggestions/ideas is so greatly appreciated!!

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 28, 2010

I always prefer to wait until cooler weather to plant things--I've had a much better success rate with things that I keep in pots for the summer and plant out in the fall vs things that I've planted in the summer. If you really want to plant them now, you'll have to be really vigilant on the watering and it may also help if you can rig up a little shade for them until they get their roots going a bit. The shade can really help make the transplant more successful though if you want to give it a try--I plant things in my shady beds in the summer and haven't had any trouble, it's the full sun beds where I've tended to lose things. But if you rig up some shade to keep the sun from beating down on them during the heat of the day that really cuts down on the stress for the plant.

As far as your spacing--I believe Java Red gets a little bigger than Minuet does--~4 ft vs ~2-3 ft, so maybe space them out a little bit more. Ideal spacing for a 4 ft wide plant would be 4 ft apart, but since you want to do a hedge you can squeeze them a little bit closer than the ideal spacing. I don't know that I'd go all the way down to 1.5 ft though, I'd probably allow at least another foot between them.

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jul 28, 2010

I concur!

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