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Wisteria.

(25 Posts)
Liaise Sun 26-May-19 21:10:38

We garden on sandy soil. The wisteria at the front of the house has had many white flowers. The blue one at the back had one feeble flower and it had been fed chicken pellets and cosseted.
Maybe ignoring them is the best thing.
As for pruning I give them a haircut after flowering. I would plant a vigorous one in the hope that you get results. My little mini one gets smaller every year. It has nearly disappeared!

Resurgam123 Sat 18-May-19 10:25:13

My wisteria does not seem to have any flowers this year.
It had done so for about the last 4yrs. I am sure it was earlier last year.

midgey Sat 11-May-19 18:22:21

www.sundaygardener.co.uk/how-to-grow-wisteria.html
This might help Phoenix, the best of luck. It’s a great plant.

phoenix Sat 11-May-19 15:56:28

Sorry, but another question!

The area I'm thinking of can be a bit on the wet side, does wisteria prefer drier conditions?

Namsnanny Sat 11-May-19 15:46:29

Nanny....no I don’t catch gworld (was in the garden supervising, under the guise of supplying tea, my scissor happy husband!! grin).
Thanks for pointing that out though, I shall watch on iplayer.??

Nannyxthree Sat 11-May-19 15:03:28

I hope you watched 'Gardeners World' last night as Monty was talking about his wisteria. A hard pruning is beneficial and they can take years to bloom!

phoenix Fri 10-May-19 21:16:47

Thank you midgey, appreciated!smile

midgey Fri 10-May-19 20:16:31

Yes excellent!

phoenix Fri 10-May-19 19:57:54

So please tell me, is a South facing wall a good place!

Marmight Fri 10-May-19 15:57:37

I had an amazing white wisteria in my last garden. I planted it to grow over a pergola. Everyone said it would take years to flower but the following summer it had hundreds of blooms and the next 2 years as well. Then I moved 400 miles south. I was given 3 small plants last year and none have survived. Sandy soil on the coast in a sheltered garden oop north and now clayey soil in a sunny sheltered garden down south. Who knows if that's the reason....

phoenix Fri 10-May-19 15:44:48

Nonnie as the house was built in 2005, I can hazard a guess that the soil is just a few inches deep to cover the usual builders rubble!

At my late parents house, about 7 miles away, my stepfather planted a wisteria which is now covering a large pergola and is stunning!

I saw some decent sized wisterias for sale in Morrison's today, and was very tempted to buy one but realised that it would make sense to prepare the planting site first.

Nonnie Fri 10-May-19 15:38:21

Namsnany he was convinced it would pull the house down, it didn't!

Phoenix I would ask at a local garden centre as they will know what the soil in your area is like. Both the ones we have had have been at the front of the house and covered either by bricks or slabs so I think they must be deep rooted.

Loopy before giving up on it try my advice above, it made a huge difference to ours.

phoenix Fri 10-May-19 15:19:28

Hoping for some advice from you wisteria growers!

I'm planning to plant one fairly soon. We have a South facing sun trap garden, but the soil in the area where I would like to put it is pretty poor.

So, is South facing good, and how should I prepare the area before buying it and planting it?

TIA!

Namsnanny Fri 10-May-19 14:42:06

Nonnie.....No,no!! How could he possibly hate a wisteria??shocksmile

Namsnanny Fri 10-May-19 14:37:24

Loopy...that’s how mine was for years!
I couldn’t advise you but as it has flowered clearly it can, so maybe pruning well may make a difference?

loopyloo Fri 10-May-19 11:36:42

We have an old wisteria. We have been here 10 years and one year if had 2 flowers on it. The neighbours have never seen it bloom, they have been here years. It is planted beside a shed and grows over the fence.. I have pruned it and fed it bone meal. Should I scrap it and buy a new one?

Nonnie Fri 10-May-19 10:58:29

We had wisteria for many years and DH always hated it. He used to prune it visciously but when I took advice and started doing it the neighbour said it was the best it had ever been. I used to cut off the long spindly things in August (any earlier and they grow again) then in late February prune back the new shoots to just above the second bud. It worked for me and we had one great flowering but not much second flowering.

MiniMoon Fri 10-May-19 10:10:04

We had a beautiful sister is at our previous house. My parents were captivated by it. My DH gave my Dad a cutting which he grew in his garden.
Getting back to the dry conditions of last summer, no, it doesn't make any difference to how wisterias bloom.

Sara65 Fri 10-May-19 10:01:04

About 30 years ago we moved house in November, the whole width of the garden was an ugly iron frame, we didn’t know why it was there until spring, and then there was the biggest most amazing wisteria I’ve ever seen

Everywhere we’ve lived since I’ve planted wisteria, but never got anywhere near that one, I’ve got five in this house in various places, so when they’ve finished flowering, I’m going to give them a good prune, I’m not really one of nature’s pruners, but I’ll give it a go

MaggieTulliver Fri 10-May-19 09:37:53

I've never pruned my wisteria (too lazy). I've been in my present house for 17 years and it was well-established when I moved in. It's never failed to give me a beautiful display and this year is no exception. I have a tiny garden and it's grown all around the perimeter and looks stunning. I do prune the very long shoots that grow out from the rest of the shrub but that's it.

lemongrove Fri 10-May-19 09:27:25

Lots of things do benefit from a severe cutting back ( not all though!) Some years ago DH cut down a montana nearly to the ground and it came back better than ever, also the same with a lilac.
This year everything seems to be flowering much better than normal.

Slowcookervegan Fri 10-May-19 09:21:55

My ex husband pruned the gardenvti within an inch of its life one year and the next year it was beautiful but i never let him near it again

Missfoodlove Fri 10-May-19 09:19:26

Mine was amazing last year and produced a mass of seed pods.
This year is a poor display?

tanith Fri 10-May-19 05:55:13

I don’t know about that Namsnanny but mines been spectacular too this year.

Namsnanny Fri 10-May-19 01:06:24

On another thread, not connected with gardening I wrote of my husbands 'pruning' (slaughtering!) of my wisteria last year.
Well, guess what?
I've never had such a good display before!!
He argues he is a genius, and knew what he was doing all along, but I have read that last summer was dry and those conditions encouraged more flower buds to form.
Doesn't really matter as it's heavenly smile.

Oh, but does anyone know if the dry conditions actually do make a difference?