Walker’s weeping peashrub is an attractive and extremely cold hardy shrub grown both for its toughness and unmistakable shape. Keep reading to learn more about how to grow a weeping caragana shrub.
Weeping Peashrub Info
Walker’s weeping peashrub (Caragana arborescens ‘Walker’) is a cultivar that has to be grafted into a particular shape. A regular Caragana arborescens (also called a Siberian peashrub) has a traditional upright growth pattern. In order to achieve Walker’s distinctive weeping structure, stems are grafted at right angles from the top of a single upright trunk.
The result is a unique and remarkably uniform weeping shape as the stems grow out from the trunk and then straight down to the ground. The plant’s leaves are very thin, delicate, and feathery, making for a beautiful, wispy veil effect in the summer.
Walker’s weeping peashrubs tend to reach 5 to 6 feet (1.5-1.8 m.) in height, with a spread of 3 to 4 feet (0.9-1.2 m.).
Walker’s Weeping Caragana Care
Growing Walker’s weeping peashrub plants is surprisingly easy. Despite the delicate appearance of the leaves and the dangling branches, the plant is native to Siberia and hardy in USDA zones 2 through 7 (that’s hardy down to -50 F. or -45 C.!). In the spring, it produces attractive yellow blossoms. In the autumn, it loses its feathery leaves, but the singular shape of the trunk and branches provides good winter interest.
It thrives in full sun to partial shade. Despite the shrub’s shape, it actually requires very little training or pruning (beyond the initial grafting). The stems should naturally start curving down, and they will grow more or less straight toward the ground. They tend to stop about halfway to the ground. This removes any concern of them dragging in the soil, and it leaves the single bottom trunk somewhat exposed to add to the allure of its unusual shape.