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Wisteria - Advice on Selection of Plant
Good morning everyone, first post so I hope I'm in the right section & observing the right etiquette etc. Would appreciate some guidance on selection of a strong, predictable wisteria variety & some feedback on our current plan to train our current wisterias at height & length of our garden. If I describe our current situation maybe that helps? Have a wisteria (2 in fact) planted approx 3-4 years back...one a very budget option from a supermarket, the other an expensive grafted 6ft plant from a large garden center...both doing well in a less than ideal location at rear of house elevation with limited sunlight...sun rises and falls at the front of the house. They are well watered, soil is good & they are fed/watered regularly between May-October. They are located symmetrically central in the middle of the house rear wall & fan left & right. They have been trained along a large strong wooden pergola with guide wires & have been twisted every month since planted....somewhat like the one outside the cafe at Kew Gardens. Honestly speaking we did that out of ignorance rather than to copy what we have since seen. 
As such it has a defined woody structure & nice straight growth lines fanning out across 6 strong wires to left & right. At this time it is 3 meters high & radiates 6 meters left & right. It has limited flowers so far but I think I understand the reasons for that & have started pruning to encourage flower growth whilst still encouraging wood/green length growth. The plant has now reached the furthest left & right edge of the property & we are going to extend the fence post height & extend pergola wooden supports down the length of the garden to encourage the growth down the length of the garden but at height above the fence line (again approx 2.5 meters) where it will start to get considerably more sunlight....and hopefully encourage more flowers when more structured pruning can be done. In a way we are trying to create a rather simplistic 'Italian garden' feel with walls/fences but plant growth 2 ft above the walls. The walls and surroundings are sheltered so growth should I think continue vigorously as has been the case to date. What we have also added - a year ago we added a variety of Clematis Montana. It is following the same route in the same manner & is flowering fine. In fact it is growing at a faster rate than the Wisteria...I guess as it's a less woody plant? Now we want to add an additional wisteria midway down the garden on the left and the right. Essentially to accelerate the growth plan to get wisteria growth at height down the length of the garden. Garden length is approximately 18 meters My question is....which wisteria to buy to guarantee color, flowers, hopefully long (or even repeated) flowering window, rapid growth and at the higher level on a wooden & wires structure? I'm happy to buy a developed larger plant and to pay for a couple of quality plants given they are so critical to the plan. Would be very interested to get a recommendation. Also are there any specialist recommended suppliers of wisterias out there that could be considered the 'best of' supplier? Sorry one more question....when would be the best time to get this in the ground? I'm guessing it would be fairly soon? Also any tips for getting the best out of the twisted wisteria concept in general? It seems to be going well but I have to confess to being something of a gardening beginner .... we have enthusiasm, energy and are reading a lot but not a huge amount of technical skills. I'd be very grateful for any tips, tricks or advice in general from any wisteria heroes out there. Many thanks in
As such it has a defined woody structure & nice straight growth lines fanning out across 6 strong wires to left & right. At this time it is 3 meters high & radiates 6 meters left & right. It has limited flowers so far but I think I understand the reasons for that & have started pruning to encourage flower growth whilst still encouraging wood/green length growth. The plant has now reached the furthest left & right edge of the property & we are going to extend the fence post height & extend pergola wooden supports down the length of the garden to encourage the growth down the length of the garden but at height above the fence line (again approx 2.5 meters) where it will start to get considerably more sunlight....and hopefully encourage more flowers when more structured pruning can be done. In a way we are trying to create a rather simplistic 'Italian garden' feel with walls/fences but plant growth 2 ft above the walls. The walls and surroundings are sheltered so growth should I think continue vigorously as has been the case to date. What we have also added - a year ago we added a variety of Clematis Montana. It is following the same route in the same manner & is flowering fine. In fact it is growing at a faster rate than the Wisteria...I guess as it's a less woody plant? Now we want to add an additional wisteria midway down the garden on the left and the right. Essentially to accelerate the growth plan to get wisteria growth at height down the length of the garden. Garden length is approximately 18 meters My question is....which wisteria to buy to guarantee color, flowers, hopefully long (or even repeated) flowering window, rapid growth and at the higher level on a wooden & wires structure? I'm happy to buy a developed larger plant and to pay for a couple of quality plants given they are so critical to the plan. Would be very interested to get a recommendation. Also are there any specialist recommended suppliers of wisterias out there that could be considered the 'best of' supplier? Sorry one more question....when would be the best time to get this in the ground? I'm guessing it would be fairly soon? Also any tips for getting the best out of the twisted wisteria concept in general? It seems to be going well but I have to confess to being something of a gardening beginner .... we have enthusiasm, energy and are reading a lot but not a huge amount of technical skills. I'd be very grateful for any tips, tricks or advice in general from any wisteria heroes out there. Many thanks in 0
Posts
Hi, the Chinese ( sinensis ) wisteria is the most vigorous wisteria and the largest variety. you can also look at the Japanese variety.
Just keep to a named cultivation and you should be fine.
Dont buy wisteria grown from seed - buy grafted
Buy a wisteria when its in flower, you know its flowering then.
The RHS site very good with plenty of detail on wisteria ,but i dont know how to put a link on
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Hi Perki .... super stuff many thanks for this.
From memory I think its the white and purple Japanese ones we currently have.
And excuse my ignorance but do the RHS folks sell these or just for reference material?
Off to take a look now.
Any other suggestions or pointers folks? Many thanks again Perki
..from my readings, a variety that's often recommended is one called 'Prolific'.. for pruning methods you really need detailed instructions I think...but always remembering that Japanese Wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) twines clockwise....Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis varieties, such as 'Prolific') is naturally anti-clockwise...
..I don't grow Wisteria, but from what I understand, once you have enough framework established from the branches, the summer growth that has come out from that framework is reduced to 2 inches, this encourages upward facing flowering shoots..
..you're going to have an awful lot of Wisteria going on there... one question I would ask myself is, can I maintain all this? however, we tend to go for these things regardless and manage the training and pruning as we find it... don't you think?
best of luck...
I dont think RHS sell wisteria, someone else might be able to answer that question.
You should be able to buy a wisteria from a garden centre, a garden centre near me have quite a lot of wisteria, some are in arches or grown as a tree set you back about £350
, or some normal 6ft one were about £20. You can find them online as well
Highlight the website - right click - go to website, hopefully this will help answer some of your questions
www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=173