I spoke to my local nursery man. They raise their own Weigela 'Wine & Roses' shrubs. Last summer was the hottest and driest summer in SC Kansas on record. It was worse than in the Dust Bowl days. The nursery man said that he had his young Weigela 'Wine & Rose' shrubs in pots in the full sun. (Pots tend to dry out faster than in-ground plants.) Anyway, he said that he didn't observe any scorching on any of his Weigela 'Wine & Roses', nor did he see any scorching on any of the other Weigela 'Wine & Roses' shrubs in the area. Basically, I can't assume what happens to the Weigela 'Wine & Roses' shrubs in Florida, Oregon, Iowa, NE Kansas, or any other geographical area is what will also happen to the Weigela 'Wine & Roses' shrubs here in SC Kansas since it is a different climate. And, prairiegirlz5, thanks for the information from your observations. I appreciate it.

Well, I didn't think there was any Fall or Winter interest, but I still like the dark leafed weigelas. I guess I would prefer to have Spring and Summer interest and no Fall interest instead of fall interest with very little Spring or Summer interest like what you get with a dwarf burning bush.

It could be your root system was not that great to begin with. I have noticed over the years that I can buy a plant one place & get a weak root system & buy one at another place & get a great root system. I always use a root stimulator when planting to increase the root systems of my plants & avoid transplant shock. I apply this once a month for the first 2 months. Also the first poster was right about watering the rootball area the first 2 years to get the plant off to a good start. By me July & Aug are the months I have to really water a new plant in order for it to do good. Weigela's usually do very good without much trouble. That is what makes me think about how is your root system.

Just a couple of follow up notes... There's nothing wrong with the rhodie planted to the left of the porch - I'm just somewhat compulsive and obsessed with "balance" and I feel that a second "Ivory Halo" would offer a better sense of balance but I'll be the first to admit that I may be in need of therapy but that's a topic for a different message board... The green/gray in the "Ivory Halo" is the exact colouring of the house and the visual effect is that the dogwoods are an extension of the house and thus have a greater visual weight but now the weigelas really seem to be far to dark and to clash with the dogwood. Perhaps the "Shining Sensation" weigelas are just too dark and there isn't anything that is going to change that and it would just be easier to yank them out and replace them with three weigelas that possess a better green transition colour that works better with the "Ivory Halo" dogwood. The landscaping was just installed 3 weeks ago and it would be pretty effortless to remove whatever needed removing but I'm also concerned that at this time of the season all of the best shrubs are long gone and that I will probably have to wait until next spring to do whatever needs to be done. One lesson that I did learn was not to ever be intimidated by a professional "anything" and that I should have just trusted my own instincts because I now find myself wanting to change everything that the designer installed and replace it with everything that I originally wanted to install in my design. A lack of confidence can really be one's undoing and I should have taken a chance and failed rather than find myself in this current position. Sorry for the rambling but I'll try to subdue it to the best of my ability or to at least make it relatively amusing. Thank you to one and all...