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Inherited difficult old wisteria
Vendavel
Posts: 2
Hi everyone,
I'm a keen though relatively inexperienced gardener, who grew up helping a lot with my dad's orchards and finally got my hands on a good-sized garden of my own last year (rented but the landlady is happy for me to do as I like with it).
The house has an old wisteria on its front corner, which seems to have been neglected for a long time. It doesn't appear to have had any significant supports beyond wires just under the roof, so all the branches pretty much flail in whichever direction they like. The roof was replaced in December so the supports had to come down, and we had a real job getting it back up again as it's much heavier than it looks (I wanted to see whether it would leaf up and flower before doing any pruning).
It's now got foliage and even flowers on some parts, but the majority is just a mass of branches. I've read up on the late summer / late winter pruning recommended for wisteria, and the RHS advice on renovating overgrown climbers, but I'd really appreciate some thoughts and advice as to whether that will be of much use here. They seem more aimed at moderately overgrown wisterias which are at least still partially trained, not ones like this! The branches weigh hundreds of kilos so I'm not sure I'd want to tackle the job without experienced help.
If the pruning isn't likely to help much, or not for a year or two, my plan B is to grow a clematis through it (I recently bought 3 clematis viticella "Astra Nova" instead of the planned 2, and I thought the spare might look good climbing up all those bare branches during the summer).
Plan C, if the clematis doesn't seem viable either, would be to remove the whole thing I suppose, but I'd really like to save it if I can.
Advice much appreciated!
I'm a keen though relatively inexperienced gardener, who grew up helping a lot with my dad's orchards and finally got my hands on a good-sized garden of my own last year (rented but the landlady is happy for me to do as I like with it).
The house has an old wisteria on its front corner, which seems to have been neglected for a long time. It doesn't appear to have had any significant supports beyond wires just under the roof, so all the branches pretty much flail in whichever direction they like. The roof was replaced in December so the supports had to come down, and we had a real job getting it back up again as it's much heavier than it looks (I wanted to see whether it would leaf up and flower before doing any pruning).
It's now got foliage and even flowers on some parts, but the majority is just a mass of branches. I've read up on the late summer / late winter pruning recommended for wisteria, and the RHS advice on renovating overgrown climbers, but I'd really appreciate some thoughts and advice as to whether that will be of much use here. They seem more aimed at moderately overgrown wisterias which are at least still partially trained, not ones like this! The branches weigh hundreds of kilos so I'm not sure I'd want to tackle the job without experienced help.
If the pruning isn't likely to help much, or not for a year or two, my plan B is to grow a clematis through it (I recently bought 3 clematis viticella "Astra Nova" instead of the planned 2, and I thought the spare might look good climbing up all those bare branches during the summer).
Plan C, if the clematis doesn't seem viable either, would be to remove the whole thing I suppose, but I'd really like to save it if I can.
Advice much appreciated!
0
Posts
Do exactly as @fidgetbones says.
I would definitely not grow a clematis through the wisteria as it would just add to the weight and in a storm the whole lot could come down.
Is there anything I can do about the mass of branches below the level of the light fitting, e.g. pruning some of them out, shaping them more pleasingly somehow?
@Lizzie27 your point about the clematis adding weight makes sense, thanks!
I would spend some time working out which of the lower branches and stems will be easiest to train in and thus keep and which will need cutting out and clearing away because they are blocking (or likely to block) access to paths, doors and windows with a view to removing those once the flowers are over. It would also be the ideal opportunity to screw vine eyes into your walls and stretch tensioned wires between them to support and train new growth. They need to be horizontal and at 30 to 40 cm intervals up the wall and are cheaper, easier, stronger and more discreet than wooden trellis.
If you can, tie in that left hand flowering branch to the new supports and then tie in any new growth coming form the remaining stems. In July, reduce any new, whippy stems to 7 leaf nodes. Mine produce more whippy bits after the July prune and I shorten those too as and when they threaten to mug us as we pass. Tie in the ones you want to keep.
Next February, shorten the new whippy stems to 2 leaf nodes and then next march or April, when buds start to show, give it another good feed of slow release tomato or rose fertiliser. Over the years, the main stems will thick and becoming woody and self supporting but you'll still need to do the twice yearly pruning and keep it from growing under house structures like your roof and gutters.
I would definitely not put a clematis thru a wisteria. Clematis are hungry, thirsty plants and young ones would not be able to compete with the already established wisteria.