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.

You can prune the dead branches now. But if you want to reduce the over-all height, don't cut it back until after it blooms.

Recently I went over to a nearby plant farm and talked to an expert on these plants there. He told me if they were not blooming when I bought them and were not blooming at present that they would not bloom this year. But recently and presently with the high heat I started to water more heavily and lo and behold!! There is now some light flowering. I am shocked! Maybe I have not been watering these babies thorough enough.

cfmuehling, thanks for your reply and appreciate your opinion. I'm wondering if you ever have pruned your shrubs AFTER FLOWERING ? I had the same problem when I planted a red variety. Both plants had about four long and spindly stems so I got out my pruning book and they said pruning weigelas does wonders. They suggested cutting back 1/3 of the oldest stems AFTER FLOWERING, right to the ground. Next cut back all the spindly stems by half their length. Every year now, after flowering, I now take 1/3 of the next oldest stems and cut them down to the ground. The first year I had my shrubs they were young and didn't have "old" stems, so I cut all its stems back by half their length. What a difference come late spring. New shoots almost doubled in quantity and branching started on all the older spindly stems. Now the shrubs are much fuller and well distributed. I may be writing something you already know and Wine and Roses is just a smaller, less full shrub than other varieties. My question hasn't received enough replies to come up with a firm opinion. Thanks for writing back though. I'm hesitating purchasing Wine and Roses now unless I get more input.