At the first sign of spring, Wisteria blossom with delicate petals and fragrant scent to adorn your garden. They are not only an elegant addition but also provide a bounty for insects as well!
The perfect choice if you want fragrance without fuss from pesky pests.
The Wisteria vine is a beautiful plant that attracts all sorts of wildlife, such as birds and bees.
Wisteria trees are a perfect example of plants that can take over your garden, knock down out buildings and even kill some trees. If you don’t keep them in check they’ll eventually destroy everything around them with their powerful roots.
Wisteria are a common sight in the spring, but they can be quite destructive if left unchecked. For this reason we have written an article with tips on how successfully grow and care for your wisteria plant.
How And Where To Plant Wisteria
Wisteria vines are a wonderful choice for patios, pergolas or arbors because they provide shade and privacy. However, it can take years before the wisterias blossom fully in order to enjoy their beauty (although you will be rewarded with its beautiful foliage right away).
Wisteria plants are known to cover any surface they’re placed on with their beautiful blossoms. They grow quickly, so be sure not have one too close or else it’ll take over your whole yard!
The wisterias flowers give off an unforgettable scent that will fill up all of our senses when we come home after being away from them for awhile.
Wisteria vines are beautiful and fragrant. They serve as a delight for all the senses, but should be carefully considered if you have pets or children, since its leaves, roots, stems, and particularly the seeds contains poison.
It’s a good idea to plant Wisteria in an area where you can easily contain it. However, these vines are so enthusiastic growers and quite invasive! If they escape their bed or planter – don’t be surprised if your senses start being overwhelmed by them soon enough as well.
How To Grow Wisteria Outdoors
Wisteria is a plant that needs plenty of sunlight to grow well. It can handle some shade, but it won’t produce as many flowers in this environment and may not flower at all if being planted against an outside wall where there’s no natural light coming through during the day time hours. I recommend positioning your wisteria so you’re getting six solid hours every single day.
Purple wisteria is a vine that’s not as tough to grow but still needs enough nutrients in its soil. Amend your garden with organic compost if it appears stuck or has low levels of fertilizer, and you’ll be able enjoy this beautiful flower all summer long!
Wisteria is a beautiful vine that thrives in acidic and well-drained soil. It also likes to have fertile, consistently moist but not soggy ground underneath it.
Planting Wisteria
Planting your wisteria in the right season gives you an opportunity to enjoy its beautiful leaves all summer long. You can also choose planting location that will let it grow well over winter, then watch as stunning spring flowers adorn these strong vines come next autumn!
Wisteria is an easily grown vine that needs a lot of space to grow. Make sure you have at least ten or fifteen feet between each plant so they don’t suffocate one another and sprout roots from all over the yard instead!
To keep the vines at bay, plant them far away from each other and any of your precious plants. If given a chance these flowering vines will quickly rampage over trees or shrubs to cause their untimely demise before they have time to get too out of control!
Wisteria Vine Care
Early in the springtime, you should feed your climbing wisteria by giving it a layer of compost for its growing season. This will help with healthy growth and discourage weeds! Follow that up with two inches worth mulch to hold moisture in (and keep pesky weeds at bay).
In the autumn, you may want to help prepare your plant for winter by amending the soil with a couple cups of phosphorous.
Work it in well before putting Wisteria plants “to bed” so they can be ready when springtime arrives!
Watering
A common misconception is that Wisteria vines grow only in rich soil. It’s true they prefer moist soil, but can also tolerate drought conditions with the right care!
Just watch it. If you notice that the potting soil is getting dry, give it a quick watering and then leave things be for another day or so until its thirst gets resolved on its own (sometimes plants take longer than we expect).
Wisteria Care: Protect From Extremes
Wisteria vines love the warmth and bright sunlight, but they need protection from cold winds. A location with both these things would seem like a great place for them to grow!
Wisteria may be the most resilient plant you can find. It thrives in adverse conditions and with little care, it will spring back stronger than before to show off its vibrant colors!
Wisteria Fertilizer
While Wisteria vines like soil rich in natural nutrients, fertilizing may not become really necessary or recommended. If you decide to fertilize your vineyard-do so carefully and sparingly as too much nitrogen can interfere with blooming!
Remember Wisteria vines belong to the family of legumes, so it fixes nitrogen levels in your soil. If there is too much nitro around for what you’re planting and growing – then those big leaves will appear instead of flowers!
Diseases And Pests
Wisteria is a beautiful vine that can have some problems. The most common issues with wisterias are:
Wisteria (Wistaria) is a wonderful plant for adding beauty and appeal to your home. These plants can be invasive, however; they also experience problems such as:
- Attacks from Japanese Beetles
- Viral Diseases
- Plant Scale bugs
- Leaf Miners
- Crown Gall
- Leaf Spots
- Wingless, sucking mealybugs
- Dieback
- Aphids
These sorts of problems can happen but a small chance that the well-established wisteria which is hardy and rugged, resists most problems quite well on its own.
How To Prune Wisteria Vines
The Wisteria vine is a tough plant, but it can be even more beautiful with some pruning. With no pruning at all the wisteria blossoms might not happen for many years to come – so give your blooming vines an extra boost by trimming away dead wood!
You can cut back on your Wisteria vine growth to encourage blooming in the springtime. Make sure that you leave a few buds, and don’t prune more than 50% of last season’s stems!
Keep your Wisteria in check by pruning it back when you see new growth. Make sure there are a few buds on each stem, but don’t leave more than 50% from last year’s vines since this will encourage good blooming for next spring!
Throughout the summer, trim back unruly shoots to maintain a tidy appearance and encourage blooming. At the end of summer when you’re ready for shorter vines that are not covered in blossoms but still have fruit on them (like grapes), cut these long stems down so they won’t be too tall!
While pruning wisteria, it is important to pay attention and cut away old growth judiciously in order for the branches to stay symmetrical.
Pruning wisteria trees is an important task that should be done after they’ve bloomed to remove any unwanted growth. You can prune them back by at least six inches and keep the shape of your plant in mind while doing so, otherwise you may cause too much harm!
Pruning back your plants can help it direct energy toward producing flowers rather than foliage.
Early spring pruning is a great opportunity to get in touch with your plant and see how healthy it really is. The leaves should be no obstacle when you do this task because they are all off the tree, so you can take better care of them than if there were still some on their branches!
How To Train Your Wisteria To Climb A Structure
Wisteria vines love to climb, and they will clamber merrily over anything they can to reach full sun. This makes it important that you plant wisteria in an area with appropriate structure for climbing- You must also provide support/guidance so your plants are growing the right direction!
Make Your Structure Sturdy
A pergola can be a great place for vines, as long as you have the appropriate support. A sturdy structure such as an arbor or trellis will do well and provide adequate sustenance to your crops year-round!
Building a strong and lasting structure is your responsibility. Build it from sturdy materials such as cedar, which can stand up against the weather or bear weight well depending on what you plan to use this building for! Support posts should measure 4×4 inches in dimension; they’re best made of solid lumber too – 2 x 4s at least. Make sure that all footings dug into soil are set with cement before proceeding further.
How To Plant Wisteria
It is said that the wisteria vine grows fast and spreads far. It also sends out shoots underground to start new plants on its own, so a single purchase may suffice for an abundance in blooms!
A single plant makes a perfect choice to cover an object that’s round like pergola or arbor. If you want your fence and plants on either side of it – which would meet in the middle- then just choose one plant for each end!
You can also plant two different types in the same area. As they grow and intertwine, you’ll have a riot of color to enjoy!
Training Your Vines To Climb In A Controlled Manner
To start training your new plants to climb the structure, let a few of the young shoots twine around one another and attach them securely with string or wire. As it gets older this will become more difficult but by then you should have enough experience!
You can use galvanized wire and eye hooks to provide support for your posts. Place the hooks about eighteen inches apart, then connect them with a single strand of fencing on all four sides of each post – this will make sure they are sturdy!
You can use gardening twine to secure the shoots of your plants as they grow. Be sure not too tightly, though-it might harm them and cause stress on their framework! They’ll get pretty quickly up there at first before you know it with this method if done correctly.
You should guide them back and encourage branching by trimming their tips. Prune the plant so that it will spread over your structure, as well as cause blossoms to form in abundance!
As your plant becomes more established, it will cling to the structure on its own. Then you can remove ties so that nutrients are better able flow through and help prevent girding in future growth stages!
What If Your Wisteria Doesn’t Bloom?
Wisteria are beautiful, but they can be tricky to grow. For example, the flowers only bloom every other year and it’s been said that you need at least six years before your wisteria has become well established enough for its first show of blooms!
Sometimes grafted plants will blossom sooner than seed-grown ones, but it’s not always the case. Sometimes they never flower at all!
Choosing The Right Variety For Your Setting
There are two types of wisteria that you can choose from, American or Asian. The latter is more enthusiastic and likely to get out of control than its counterpart; see below for examples:
Asian Wisteria
- Wisteria Floribunda, or Japanese Wisteria can grow as high as 30-60′. Under the best of conditions (i.e., in a southern US), it’s known to get even taller!
- The Honbeni or Honko, a lovely variety of wisteria produces headily scented pink blossoms in the late spring.
- Shiro Noda or Alba, a late spring bloomer is the perfect plant for those who want to bring in some color into their lives in late spring.
Although these types of wisteria hail from the US, they grow abundantly well here. These varieties do hardy in zones 5-9 and it appears very easy for them to become invasive so you should plant with care or monitor their spread carefully!
American Wisteria
The American variety (Wisteria frutescens) is a beautiful vine that doesn’t behave like an invasives species. It’s native to many states across North America and produces dark green leaves with masses of purplish blue or lilac flowers on it!
The Japanese honeysuckle is not like its Asian cousins; it has no scent and will only grow on new wood. This beautiful plant can reach up to 30 feet in length, thriving in zones 5 through 9!
Kentucky Wisteria is another native plant that can grow in zones 4-9. It looks quite similar to its American counterpart, but blooms sooner and has a better chance of becoming established after only 2 years!
Kentucky Wisteria has a cultivar known as Blue Moon, which can produce flowers in silver or blue. This variety blooms late spring through summer and comes from very hardy plants that tolerate temperatures up to 40°F below zero Fahrenheit with no problems!
The Chinese Wisteria Sinensis is a gorgeous, intricately-nuanced vine that grows in full sun and requires lots of pruning.
Should You Plant Wisteria?
A few plants can work like wisteria and you will surely find success with this choice if you want to cover a structure. For large spaces, these flowers put on an impressive show without too much effort from your part!
Wisteria is one of the most elegant vines. It can grow up to 30 feet tall in just a few years, which makes it perfect for planting along walks or around your patio area! You may have noticed that they are not always easy plants – but with care and patience, these robust climbers will reward you handsomely when their time comes.