Weigela Aurea Group

'Conanu'

A speading shrub, wider than tall, with rich red-pink flowers that contrast with the golden-yellow-green foliage.

'Dart's Yellow Lady'

A shrub growing wider than tall, rather sparsely flowered compared with other Aurea Group selections. The foliage is yellow-green and the flowers pink-purple. Hoffmann considers W. ‘Briant Rubidor’ to be much superior (Hoffmann 2007).

'Jitsuko's Gold'

‘Jitsuko’s Gold’ was a 2001 wild-find by Dan Hinkley in central Japan and distributed by Heronswood Nursery from 2005 (Hatch 2021–2022). It is attributed to W. florida, but also fits the circumscription of Aurea Group, in which we treat it for consistency. It has bright golden foliage and rosy-red flowers that fade to paler pink. It does not seem to have had a wide distribution.

Weigela Aurea Group 'Jitsuko's Gold' (Heronswood Garden, Washington, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

'Looymansii Aurea'

One of the very early cultivars, raised by van Houtte of Ghent, Belgium, and described in about 1876. The leaves are a good golden-yellow with a narrow carmine-red margin. Flowers open to be a deep rose-pink colour with a pale pink throat. Like most members of the Aurea Group it does best when protected from full sun (Howard 1965; Brickell 2003).

'Newzako'

A low-growing, spreading shrub with golden-yellow-green foliage and pale carmine flowers.

'Olympiade'

Hoffmann praised this selection as probably the best member of the Aurea Group for general planting as it holds its foliage colouration well even when grown in full sun and is generally a more robust plant than other Aurea Group cultivars (Hoffmann 2007). It is a larger growing clone of dense habit, height and spread up to 2 × 2 m. The leaves yellow-green at first, becoming yellower through the season, often with some green streaks in the centre of the blade and along the midrib and a very narrow, red margin. The flowers are a rich dark-red, borne late spring to early summer. Raised by A. Briant in France c. 1985 (Brickell 2003; Hatch 2017).

A row of young Weigela Aurea Group 'Olympiade'. offered for sale at Ashwood Nurseries, Staffordshire, UK, June 2023. Image John Grimshaw.

Weigela Aurea Group 'Olympiade' (Yorkshire Arboretum, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

'Tokyo Gold'

This selection was introduced to the United States by Nurseries Caroliniana, Inc., after being spotted at a cooperative garden centre in Kawaguchi, Japan. It is listed on their website as a W. florida cultivar but for reasons explained in the generic entry we have opted to follow the classification of Hoffmann (Hoffmann 2008) and have placed it within the Aurea Group. Nurseries Caroliniana describe the foliage as ‘brilliant gold’ acting as ‘a perfect foil for the soft pink flowers, which open for us in mid to late April’ (nurcar.com).