Here's a pic of the W&R cultivar 'Midnight Wine' with 'Magic Carpet' and 'Limemound' spiraea along with 'sedum 'White Diamonds' and rosa rugoso 'Hansa'. I have a 20' long lawn border in this pattern and the dark W&R type foliage/flowers is what makes the whole thing work. I also use abelia 'Kaleidoscope' as a nice contrast. Here is a link that might be useful:

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.

In my experience several different spirea cultivars will root spread in my flower beds. Especially if they do not have something else as signficant as them competing for space with them. So it does seem good that you are wanting to plant the Wine and Roses weigela with them. The more dominant 4 inch Weigela leaf size, color, and form seem to me as being a better fit as a background planting in your bed. That is as long as their flower colors still compliment well with the color of the siding (be it brick, wood, stucco, or other) on your house. When creating the bed where you plan for this landscaping, simply install a root barrier along the front border, beneath the above ground edging you plan to install. Then consider: why hide the weigela shrub behind other shrubs? Instead why not simply choose a spiraea in front of them which will only grow 1-2 feet tall, and make certain that you purchase the size of Weigela, which is at first planting about 3 times taller than the actually grown size of spiraea you choose to purchase. For this purpose, maybe you could consider planting the Spirea Double Play Gold, which is reported to grow to about 1-2 feet tall and spread about 2-3 feet It's my opinion that the Wine and roses weigela and the Double Play Gold spirea seem to contrast nicely to bring out some of the diverse color shades in wiegela'a leaves. That is unless you would prefer a spiraea cultivar that still grows to only 1-2 feet, but also has leaves, which seem to often times stay more consistantly a slightly, bluish green color throughout the growing season. If so, then you might consider the Spiraea Japonica 'Norman,' which grows to about 1-2 feet tall,is reported to only spread 1-2 feet, and which is reported to bloom from June through August.

I think Weigela has a very ugly sticky scraggly look in winter. Not only that, it leafs out later than other things so you have to look at the scraggly stuff a long time. I have Weigela 'Midnight WIne' by my front steps and every year I want to move it (procastination wins out though!) I also have W. Wine and Roses which I moved last fall because it was in a bad spot. I cut it back pretty hard and it is tiny this year. I didn't expect flowers and I certainly didn't get any. So it is not a plant to rejuvenate itself quickly. Even a real dieback plant like Caryopteris is not supposed to be cut back until early spring (when new growth is first seen). You might be better off with a true evergreen or even a semi-evergreen like an azalea might work.