I can't help you with advice based on zone, because I'm in zone 6...but I did grow Czechmark Trilogy for about 4 years before I removed it to build a patio. I found it to be more sensitive to extreme cold than other Weigelas. Even though I'm zone 6, we typically have a week or two stretch in January where temps get subzero at night. All of my Weigelas have a few inches of dead tips every spring, I found the Trilogy to be more extensive, sometimes having 10-12" of dead stem length, if not entire stems. It always came back fine though...just took it a lot longer in the summer to start looking good.

BTW ostrich, I posted a question a few days back on the Hydrangea forum about Little Hottie Hydrangea, and someone told me you've been growing it. Is that true?

I think about it but when I asked the local nursery man about it, he said he didn't carry them because they didn't grow here.

However, I might have seen some along a shady sidewalk by apartment buildings (on a bike), I didn't stop to ID them but these were shrubs with small red flowers and I don't know what else they could be, this far north.

Thank you, Joe and Bill! This is very informative indeed. I have had several trials of weigela's - it started with My Monet which I planted in a very sheltered east-facing area by the foundation of the house. That thing is doing well! I really love it.

Then a couple of years ago, I tried that reblooming one (forgot the name!) but they did not make it through the winter!!! Oh well...

Now I just tried a couple of this Czechmark Trilogy - they both came back very late in the spring and also their growth was very slow indeed. I really wished they were more vigorous growers but they were not. There was also a lot of winter dieback so I had to prune out the dead wood too...

Given all of this information and my experience, I decided to remove them now and planted a Flowerfull Hydrangea and a Sitting Pretty rose instead! Let's see how that works for this space. Thanks for your advice!

Joe, I did try Little Hottie for a season and then gave them to a colleague! I just found them to be again not vigorous growers and they did not bloom much for me ... OK, I likely did not give it enough of a chance to do its thing but with our very short growing season, I just wanted to have hardy strong growers. Whether they have done well with my colleague after they were moved, I am not sure.... sorry!