Arrgh, what's wrong with me - my brain said Wisteria, but my hands typed fuchsia (spelt incorrectly too!). Yes. I'm convinced it's Wisteria - the bottom of the tangled mess is between two paving slabs - space deliberatly left by the looks of it, and it's woody like a Buddleia is
Wisteria, but it needs pruning to flower properly.
Excellent, I, thought so
Right, so is there a link or guide for Wisteria 101? I'm rather excited now, if I can get it to flower and train it along the out building it'll be amazing!!!
Wisteria - Start by tracing back every stem that has foliage at, say, head height and tie a string round it at the base. Then cut out every stem that has no string and remove it as dead wood.
Then assess the remaining stems and decide which can be trained along a framework of tensioned wires attached with vine eyes to your house wall or fence. Once you've done that, cut out the remaining stems.
That should leave you with a manageable plant you can keep trained and pruned. As it's young and weedy and has been a bit squished, I would then give it a good, long drink of at least 20 litres poured slowly so it sinks in and then a mulch of well-rotted manure or some garden or spent compost mixed with pelleted chicken manure.
After that it should be fine for food but, if it's planted in a rain shadow created by the fence or wall, you need to make sure it doesn't get thirsty in hot spells. Once it's matured in a few years it'll be fine.
Pruning comes in two phases - In July, remove any new, young whippy stems to 7 buds from where they branch off a main stem. This helps keep the plant in shape and also concentrates energy into flower bud production.
In February, you reduce those 7 bud lengths to 2 but be sure to do it on a day with no frosts and no frost forecast so the wound has a few days to heal over before frosts can get in and damage the cells.
You should end up with a magnificent plant that flowers in May and then, when mature, repeat flowers sporadically over the summer.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I think the bit of wood you mean is actually your fascia board? If so then that is to keep moisture out of the roof and even possibly supporting your bottom row of tiles. Down be tempted to rip it down!
Looks very much like a wisteria to me, but it looks like it has been curt down at the trunk at some point, so you are left with lots of whip growth. In my experience they are pretty indestructible once established, so Im sure you will be able to restore it to a nice plant in 2 or 3 years.
I would choose two or three of the good looking vines near the base, and wrap them around each other into a loose lattice. They should eventually thicken up and form a new trunk. Id also put a strong trellis or something up the wall to support them. They will pull that drainpipe away from the wall with no bother if you leave them to climb up that. Wisteria puts on a lot of growth in the summer, so you should be able to get a good structure going up then along the top of the wall fairly quickly. They are heavy plants though so its worth putting in some decent hook and eyes into the wall and some wire now to support it when needed.
It probably won't flower much or at all this year, and maybe not next, but it looks a mature plant in essence so should flower as soon as there is a decent plant there again. \ To get it flowering once its back established then have a look at the RHS website for y9our yearly routing to get the most out of them
Looks like @Obelixxbeat me to it with the advice! Is that trunk on the last pic part of the same plant? If so then its a mature one thats been cut down and will probably be fine for water as it will have a good root system, if not then as above keep it well fed and watered for a while
Some more detailed pictures having dived into the jungle, and actually got the Wisteria caught up in my hair lol
Those are normal sized bricks to give it some scale - so, two thick trunks.
The roots are outside of the raised bed, it's all on it's own, but it's grown *into* the raised bed, and made a fine twist of its self around what I believe is a laurel? - See below. The lighter brown, and erm, twisty one, is the Wisteria, the green and brown the laurel. Not too sure what to do about that - worth cutting the laurel back lots and trying to thread it out from the Wisteria?
And this is where I'm hoping to pin it to - yeah, it's the fascia board, I don't intend to take it down! - Will it be much weight when attached or be no grief?
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Here's a crop of one of the pics above - bad quality but you can clearly see the source.
Right, so is there a link or guide for Wisteria 101? I'm rather excited now, if I can get it to flower and train it along the out building it'll be amazing!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Then assess the remaining stems and decide which can be trained along a framework of tensioned wires attached with vine eyes to your house wall or fence. Once you've done that, cut out the remaining stems.
That should leave you with a manageable plant you can keep trained and pruned. As it's young and weedy and has been a bit squished, I would then give it a good, long drink of at least 20 litres poured slowly so it sinks in and then a mulch of well-rotted manure or some garden or spent compost mixed with pelleted chicken manure.
After that it should be fine for food but, if it's planted in a rain shadow created by the fence or wall, you need to make sure it doesn't get thirsty in hot spells. Once it's matured in a few years it'll be fine.
Pruning comes in two phases - In July, remove any new, young whippy stems to 7 buds from where they branch off a main stem. This helps keep the plant in shape and also concentrates energy into flower bud production.
In February, you reduce those 7 bud lengths to 2 but be sure to do it on a day with no frosts and no frost forecast so the wound has a few days to heal over before frosts can get in and damage the cells.
You should end up with a magnificent plant that flowers in May and then, when mature, repeat flowers sporadically over the summer.
Looks very much like a wisteria to me, but it looks like it has been curt down at the trunk at some point, so you are left with lots of whip growth. In my experience they are pretty indestructible once established, so Im sure you will be able to restore it to a nice plant in 2 or 3 years.
I would choose two or three of the good looking vines near the base, and wrap them around each other into a loose lattice. They should eventually thicken up and form a new trunk. Id also put a strong trellis or something up the wall to support them. They will pull that drainpipe away from the wall with no bother if you leave them to climb up that.
Wisteria puts on a lot of growth in the summer, so you should be able to get a good structure going up then along the top of the wall fairly quickly. They are heavy plants though so its worth putting in some decent hook and eyes into the wall and some wire now to support it when needed.
It probably won't flower much or at all this year, and maybe not next, but it looks a mature plant in essence so should flower as soon as there is a decent plant there again.
\
To get it flowering once its back established then have a look at the RHS website for y9our yearly routing to get the most out of them
Those are normal sized bricks to give it some scale - so, two thick trunks.
The roots are outside of the raised bed, it's all on it's own, but it's grown *into* the raised bed, and made a fine twist of its self around what I believe is a laurel? - See below. The lighter brown, and erm, twisty one, is the Wisteria, the green and brown the laurel. Not too sure what to do about that - worth cutting the laurel back lots and trying to thread it out from the Wisteria?
And this is where I'm hoping to pin it to - yeah, it's the fascia board, I don't intend to take it down! - Will it be much weight when attached or be no grief?