Vitex can be grown as a small deciduous tree or multi-trunked shrubs that may reach 20 feet in height. Some even cut back each year and grow like a buddleia. They are native to southern Europe and western Asia but thrive throughout the South in zones 7 and 8. Another heirloom plant available today is the weigela. The name itself may conjure up images of grandmother's front yard.
Weigela is native to Japan and was imported during the Victorian era.
Like forsythia, it is a large, somewhat loose shrub that if left to its own devices, matures into a lovely open arching mass. Weigelas' small, tan, dry fruit and light brown bark are also less than distinguished but not unattractive. First, it produces cascades of delightfully large and colorful, trumpet-shaped flowers that appear unfailingly each spring and sporadically through the fall. Weigela Florida will grow to a large rounded mass 5 to 10 feet tall with an equal or greater spread as the plant matures and branches arch back toward the ground. Weigela is mostly best when left to develop its own relaxed, graceful outline, although periodic pruning to renew flowering vigor may be helpful on older specimens.