Is this a bad Choice? Wisteria 'Amethyst Falls'
vinny_75
18 years ago
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marymd7
18 years agoGreenthumb
18 years agoRelated Discussions
NEVER plant a wisteria and kill it when it starts growing!
Comments (27)Wisteria seed pods are poisonous to horses [and I assume other animals] so mine are planted away from my horse pastures. Here is photo of my bush last spring - it is just about to start opening blooms. The fragrance is divine - it is, to me, what heaven would smell like. I love to work in my front yard rose bed while it is in bloom - intoxicating! I even bought a pop up shelter to cover it in case of a late freeze - which happened 2 years ago. It had just started blooming, here came the freeze and the blooms were toast. I was so mad I vowed this wouldn't happen again. This bush I now have looks like one I had in my yard when I was growing up and loved. I assume because my yard is mowed every other week that any sprouts that come up are mowed down. I am getting ready to plant another one that I have babied for 2 years in a pot to make sure that it would bloom white like the tag said - it is finally getting ready to bloom and is, indeed, white. These are hard to find and have a different fragrance from the lavender, but its strong and rich scent. I trim mine back sharply every year and it doesn't get out of bounds nor run wild. But - it is out in the middle of the yard and instead of a climber, makes a large bush - this way, it cant get into trouble. When in full bloom, people pull to the side of the road to look. I agree that they can get out of hand unless properly maintained but where mine is placed, it can be kept under control and rewards me with one of the things I love most about spring - 2 weeks of beauty and fragrance that cannot be duplicated. Judith...See Moreamerican wisteria vine
Comments (8)Actually, it can be as much as 20 years before a seed grown wisteria blooms, although Wisteria frutescens and 'Amethyst Falls' in particular are likely to bloom at a much younger stage of development compared to the Asian species. And American wisteria is a big, vigorous vine much like the Asian species......it just grows slower and doesn't have similar invasive tendencies. It needs a substantial support system - simple wood trellises or arbors are generally not going to be strong enough. 4x4 uprights are typically the minimum size recommended and make sure they have very solid footings. The strength of the vining 'trunk' can easily bend metal pipes, so I'd avoid metal arbors unless they are very sturdy and strong. And too, this vine can extend as much as 30' so a large support is typically called for. However, this vine will be marginal in your zone, tolerating temps only above around -3F to -5F, so winter dieback could be commonplace, resulting in a much smaller vine if it survives. Here, even tree-form or standard wisterias are sold as 'vines'. Training a wisteria in this manner is an extended project taking several years, which is why standard wisterias generally command hefty price tags. For a DYI project, get a young vine and stake the primary leading vine to a height of 3-6 feet, removing all basal shoots below this point and cutting back laterals at the top to 2-3 feet. Plan on somewhere in the 3-5 year range before it looks like a real wisteria "tree" :-) And don't remove that support stake until the trunk enlarges to about a 3" diameter, if at all! Pruning and training will be an ongoing project, but it can be very rewarding to know that you did that all by yourself :-) 'Amethyst Falls' is a good candidate for this process as it is a much smaller and more compact form of wisteria than most others. 'Amethyst Falls' IS fragrant - not to the same extent as the Asian species - but many consider the aroma rather musky and unpleasant. And it does have much smaller, less showy flower racemes as well....See MoreWisteria tree vs. Wisteria vine
Comments (52)So glad you finally got some blooms on that wisteria (was it the one that was barren for years?). Not sure what variety mine is (wasn't aware that there were quite a few!) but it has lovely dark blue flowers & heavenly aroma!! I have one I have trained as a tree form (it is about 50 yrs. old), a newer one I trained to grow across the top of the chain link fence. The other tree form was next to a porch post & had grown around & twisted the post so had to cut it down. It was the neighborhood beauty when the top was in full bloom! The cut base now is trying to put out more shoots so we have kept just one to train -away from the post- & let it grow away from the house & up the trunk of a near-by tree!(we may find THAT a mistake later on though?!). Seems wisterias do well with little care... & sometimes with no care at all ... or being ignored! Can be trained to different styles too....See Moregrowing wisteria on a pillar
Comments (6)I have 2 Amethyst Falls, each growing up a 15'(?) wooden floodlight post. They grow up the posts and kind of cascade down as they near the top. They are just gorgeous when in full bloom and the foliage is attractive so they look ok when not flowering. This variety comes on much later then many of the others and you have bare stems for a long time. I'm in 7a and my plants just started putting out foliage and won't be in bloom for another week or two. I haven't found it to be invasive and it hasn't produced any seed pods. If a branch rests on the ground it will root but it doesn't sucker. It will also bloom sporadically throughout the summer. I love it. Karyn...See Morevinny_75
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