The Planting Experiment

I have a fine variegated leaf weigela shrub started from a sport branch of the ordinary green leaf variety. I noticed the odd branch when small, near the base of the plant, so took it off and started it - making a new plant entirely with variegated leaves. As the plant grew, I took off cuttings from it to start others, as they may be started almost any time from spring till fall.

One day as I looked at one of the cuttings which had rooted and was growing near the old plant, I noticed that it was not like the parent plant with either yellow or white border to the leaves, but had a decided pink tint or rose color. Then I looked for the branch from which I had taken that particular cutting and saw that other leaves on it also had pink tones so I was sure it had come from that one. Then I began to look for signs of pink on other branches and found several - a few with even more of a pink cast than others. I discovered this while checking out the newly installed malibu lights. Then I noticed that on some leaves there were pinkish spots more or less blotched over the surface, and saw that the stems of the pinkest ones had a tendency also to be pink or red.

So this fall, before the leaves dropped I tied strings on the ones with the best pink shades so I may take them off in early spring and keep to themselves, as I have found that if a cutting has a tendency to be off color from the parent plant, that if taken off and given a chance to grow it will take on a more decided color of a new plant, thus nature, if given a hand, will do more than her part in aiding a new experiment to help create a new variety. Also on the variegated leaves of the mother plant, there are leaves with decided yellow borders while some are white on the same plant. But I wonder if the older leaves are not whiter and the younger ones yellow. I believe that may be the case.

Any way, getting a number of entirely different leaves than I expected, by selection and careful experiments and mean to use some of the, spotted leaf type also, to see what changes they may make when taken off as cuttings. The bush is beautiful and I mean to have a picture of it taken in spring when the leaves are out again and fresher color. (I notice in the Garden Encyclopedia that weigela with yellow markings and those with white are not the same, but have specific names of their own.)

But my bush has both types of margins - yellow and white on the same plant! I mean to carry on my experiment further to see what happens.