We've been trying to eradicate wisteria for the last couple of years and it keeps popping up..my DH dug the massive roots last year when we took down an arbor and we thought all as well.

This year, wisteria keeps popping up again so I dig it out. It's endless...and the worst part is that it's growing and entwining where I have a lot of clematis planted on cedar trellis, which makes it quite difficult. It's the vine that refuses to go quietly into the night...

Wow!!!!

I've always thought wisteria was beautiful; never thought about the down side of it!!! I obviously can't grow it here, but I've always wanted to be able to.

Carol

Well, there's Wisteria and there's Wisteria . . . I suspect that the one pictured is Chinese Wisteria (W. sinensis). Japanese Wisteria (W. floribunda) isn't quite so rampant, and American Wisteria (W. frutescens) is even less so.

Personally, I think they're all wonderful. The Asian varieties can be kept in bounds if trained as standards -- and they're spectacular when grown that way. If left to their own devices though, get outta the way . . . QUICK!

We inherited a huge Japanese wisteria when we moved here eleven years ago - it has a trunk larger than many trees and grows all the way down a length of chain link fence that separates us from the sidewalk and that would be a terrible eye sore without it and a huge expense to replace - it covers the fence in greenery and beautiful, fragrant flowers that people from the neighborhood walk up just to enjoy in the spring. The rest of the year it is a minor battle to keep it in bounds but as long as we keep the new growth trimmed or trained as necessary it does not harm anything and is a source of great joy to me and to the birds who hide in it all summer long. It is safe as long as I live here.

What amazing pictures! I have always loved wisteria, but am scared of it so won't plant it. Pictures like this just reinforce my belief that it will take over the world if left to its own devices. My sister has one in her yard (newly planted) and I keep telling her to get rid of it NOW!

The wisteria I had was a passalong plants that were from mother plants that were over 100 years old. They quickly became thugs...traveling across the arbors they were grown on and sending out long vines to start new plants. They have trunks. The downside is that the Japanese beetles adore them and they become infested during the summer.

I unfortunately also planted a Chinese Wisteria which never bloomed. My DH dug it out also, but it is still coming back from the grave in the oddest places. I think I'll be battling it forever...along with the Chameleon plants.

The world's largest wisteria plant is within driving distance of my home. In its early days it knocked down a house it was planted next to:

Here is a link that might be useful: world's largest wisteria

Oh my. Guess wisteria is off my list! I do wonder about the Kentucky Wisteria though. I have heard plenty of it's supposed mannerliness.

We started noticing the vines about 5 years ago (SERIOUSLY) and left it alone as I love wisteria flowers and I was thinking it would hide the unsightly pole and offer some much needed shade.....well the first and second year were fine. The past two years it went wild. It has never bloomed, and I do not know how I am going to get the darn pile of stuff out of my yard.....it was literally the entire height of the pole and no way to know how wide it was except it was huge. We can count over 30 birds nests in it. BTW the birds simply moved to our pecan trees, and no baby birds were harmed. They actually waited until baby bird season was over to take it down. The electric company said hire a tree company to come take out the trash, but I cannot afford that right now, so in the yard it sits....drying out.

Wow petaloid, beautiful as it is in the video, I'm kinda glad I can't grow it here...a little scary!

Judith

The problem with Wisteria in a rose garden is the roots. They send out underground runners that can give bamboo a run for its money. Also, like Windeaux wrote, there is wisteria and then is there's WISTERIA. In-my-opinion, the Asian types are much too aggressive for the average American gardener. There is a cultivar of Kentucky wisteria (W. macrostachya) called BLUE MOON that is highly recommended. It has the long draping flower clusters we expect from the Asian types but is less aggressive. It is hardy to zone 5, matures faster (2nd year), and has the added bonus of being a repeat bloomer. Granted the fragrance is lighter than with Japanese wisteria, but it is still fragrant enough to be pleasing. Just make sure to take steps to contain the roots. Kentucky wisteria may be a kinder native vine, but it is still wisteria and should not be left to run wild.

molineux! Long time no post! Dude, where have you been?

I dug out my Wisteria 5 years ago, and it's still trying to come back. Suckers are coming up 20' from where the original plant was--I pulled several out this week. I hate that plant.

I've had to kill a lot of my newbie mistakes but the worst was Wisteria. I had a tree Wisteria that I maintained religiously for 10 years so that it's tendrils would not run rampant and engulf houses, light poles and people. What I did not know was how the invasive the roots are. After running the length of one side of my house, they dived underneath the patio and came up on the other side in one of my flower beds. They ignored the fence line and sprouts shot up in my neighbors back yard. The worst was when it found a leak in his underground pipes, and ended up coming into his house via his bathtub drain. Nothing like showering with a tree in your tub. You may not care what your Wisteria is doing on your property, but if there are other houses within a half mile of you, you should never ever inflict your sense of beauty onto their property....Repeated applications of Brush Killer for 3-4 years, along with allowing no wisteria leaf to see more then a few hours of daylight (no leaves = no chlorophyll production) finally killed mine (I hope).

That is frightening, Maryl!!! I found more new sprouts this morning while on JB patrol (sigh). Now I guess I need to crawl under the deck and see what's lurking under there...

"Know thy enemies as thee know thyself"

Just remember that saying. When it comes to wisteria - the two questions you need to ask before you commit yourselves are "Do I know this plant?" and "Am I ready for it?".

Wisterias are indeed beautiful if properly trained. Left to their own devices, they turn into house eating monsters. The lesson here is to grow a wisteria if you like it, but - as lottirose pointed out - be prepared to train it and train it well. Like an aggressive dog, it needs to be on a leash and well trained. In any case, it will only produce the beautiful display of profuse spring racemes that you see in glossy magazines and tourist brochures if properly trained and pruned.

Training means conscientiously clipping those errant new shoots that spring up all summer long. I do this once every 2-3 weeks. There is no truth that it spreads through it's roots, but new shoots from low down will sneak around just under the surface or covered by leaves and detritus, to emerge, often unnoticed (unrecognised may be the truth), many feet away. If you don't remove those "underground" shoots, they will soon throw down roots and become new plants. You must be on guard for these sneaky escapees.

Wisteria Hysteria!! I am a new gardener, decided to start one this spring, and decided- Hey, what the heck, that's a pretty plant. $5 seems fair. Here ya go. After the five bucks was lost, I googled this plant and found this forum... Anyone want to buy a Wisteria plant for $5? JK, I guess I will try to contain it. Could it grow in a pot, I wonder... :)

Jenn

Had one I babied for 10 years and it did nothing no bloom just a handful of leaves.......

Then a friend said to dig around the roots and make it mad......boy did it get mad it tried to swallow my patio and the neighbors too It is meeting my "friend" round up and some day once I am sure it is completely dead I might get to use that planter area again

I love the wisteria on my moms neighbors house but glad they are a long ways from us

When we moved into our house there was a wisteria which my F-I-L told me was a "volunteer" seedling of the one that grew there when he was a boy. He thought that because although the current one bloomed, it had sort of scraggly flowers. One thing I did not know about wisteria - when the seed pods are ripe they EXPLODE and send seeds several feet or yards away. Lots of wisteria weeds...

Anyway, eventually we got tired of that and my DH cut down the wisteria, dug out the roots, and also put poison all over. The next Spring up it came again. It is still coming up 15 years later, but now we just cut off every sprout at ground level, in the hopes of killing it eventually (perhaps in a 100 years or so?).

Jackie

My tree standards are beautiful....but they also send out runners twenty feet out into the lawn.

Such a pretty pest

Amethyst Falls is a native repeat bloomer that is not invasive but very pleased to go up a pole.

If you could find the gardener that my next door neighbor used in Algiers Point, New Orleans, he could tell you how he killed in one effort the more invasive wisteria that covered the old and ugly chain length fence between our property. And he did it unasked.

Where wisteria looks good: planted to go up through a 'cedar' tree. The lavender and green of the cedar are really good together.

How do I turn my pic? Tyia

Now I'm scared. I knew this is a very invinvasive vine. Though I adore the racemes of flowers it produces. 4 years ago, I planted and have been training as a tree. It is still very well behaved. Though, only about 7 meters from the house those roots have me intimidated. I have been removing the runners as I have seen them...though I am frightened I haven't seen them all. I believe I do have amethyst falls...I hope! Wisteria is my 2nd favoritem...beautifully graceful blooms.

It's not on the Connecticut list of invasive plants--I've been growing one in our yard for about 14 years now--we have been getting a light 2nd bloom.

I grow Amethyst Falls :) It has blooms that look more like the shape of a grape cluster, not as long and pointed as the 'bad' kinds. Mine has been very mannerly, although it did spread one tendril under the mulch (years ago, apparently) that made a new one about 8 feet away! In my case that works perfectly, be still beware :D It does not have a pleasant scent to my nose. A little pungent, actually, like a weed or non-tasty herb. But it's still gorgeous! It re-blooms some, too.

e596423, a pot that doesn't touch the soil might work, but you'd still want it to be the Japanese or American kind and not Chinese. I'd be happy to send you a rooted Amethyst Falls for postage, actually :) Then you wouldn't have to worry about that at all and you could still enjoy your wisteria practically wherever you'd like to put it!