I've never tried overwintering them in pots. But I do have one each of a Chinese and a Japanese wisteria in the ground that I've been training for - 8 years in the Chinese case; 3 years in the Japanese case - as trees/shrubs. Mind you, I'm aiming for a big bushy presence, but a Chinese neighbour has several that she keeps pruned to smaller, neater shapes. Are you aiming for a bonsai sort of thing or something larger? If larger, I'd go for in-ground planting, although it's probably too late for that now.

hey you two, other GWers and myself want to learn from you about this but we can't because you don't list your location! would you add it to your i.d. so we can benefit from your experiences?
thanks much,
mindy

I'm in southern Ontario - zone 5 - near the lake so I get 'lake effect' climate (long, relatively warm autumns but cold, short, late springs...)

We love our wisterias - and are already looking forward to next May, even though the leaves are still falling off the Chinese wisteria at this point (The young Japanese one has already shed its leaves.)

We planted the Chinese one in 2001 on the south end of the front lawn and the Japanese one in 2007 on the north end of the lawn. Since the Chinese one blooms earlier and has a small secondary summer bloom, my objective is for the Chinese one to bloom by the third week of May (the long weekend usually), the Japanese one to eventually bloom in early June and then the Chinese one to do its usual smaller bloom in mid July. The Chinese ones have shorter flower racemes that bloom before the leaves develop so they display well grown bushy down to close to the ground. The Japanese ones have longer flower racemes and the leaves are usually developed by the time the flowers bloom, so they display best with a tall, bare trunk and a high canopy of branches to allow the flowers to dangle to display their length - I'm growing 'Lawrence' which has racemes that can reach 30". It is not old enough to bloom yet and is still a small, fairly spindly plant. Our Chinese one started producing summer flowers in 2002 but didn't produce a spring bloom until 2006 when it was still fairly spindly. This year it produced its first truly spectacular bloom - in part because we got lucky and had no early May frost to kill off the flowerbuds!

We want the 'trees' to be fairly substantial and a bit 'wild' so the 'trees' may look less tree-like than some would prefer. Here are some pictures:

The bed with the two wisterias - this is from May 22 2009 so you can see the Chinese one in bloom. The Japanese one is not very visible because it's still so small - it is what is tied to the stake on the right side of the picture near the end of the bed:
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A close-up view of the Chinese one in bloom, with a young friend who was color-coordinated with the wisteria! :-)
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This is a Chinese neighbour's neatly pruned young tree - it's obviously going to be a smaller, more controlled and neater-looking one than ours!
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The pruning we do is simple - we let the new growths get to be about 8-10" or so long and then pinch them back by about half. We do that all summer long - it's virtually a daily task at times. About 2-3 weeks after a new growth is pinched back, the Chinese one produces a flower on the pinched growth. This picture is from 2008 but it shows the summer blooms at pinched sites - it's not spectacular but it's there - and fragrant:
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We get about 4-5 root suckers each summer that need removing proptly. So far at least, the wisterias haven't been the fearsome plants they are in warmer climates. I hope that continues to be the case because we wouldn't want to have to give up that spectacular flower display!

So, what do I do now?? It's too late for planting them outside.

How big a pot are they in? I overwinter large pots of strawberries and blueberries in our unheated garage. But the pots are about 20" across and 15" or so deep. Plants in small pots wouldn't survive. If you have some large pots of soil, you could try sinking the wisteria pots into them and then storing them in the garage. Otherwise, I guess you'll have to try to keep them indoors. But I suspect it would do the plants good to go dormant for the winter and that isn't likely to happen properly indoors.

I wasn't totally awake when I posted the above comments!

Since wisteria are a common thing to bonsai, it certainly must be possible to overwinter them indoors! Google for wisteria bonsai and see if you can find instructions on what to do with them for the winter.

If they are ultimately destined for outdoor planting though, I think the sooner they get adapted to outdoor conditions, the better. If you've got multiple seedlings, why not hedge your bets? Keep some indoors and try some overwintered in the garage. They would probably need a hardening off period. For the first week or two, I'd cover them with horticultural fleece/floating row cover - or just some sheets.

Good luck.

I would overwinter this vine as any other perennial in the pot ghetto. I usually group together the pots on a sheltered side of the house (I've used either north or east sides to avoid fluctuating temperatures), surround the pots with bags of leaves (or wood chips, hay bales, or whatever), and cover with leaves. Or you could sink the pot in the ground in a sheltered garden bed, preferably in well-drained soil.

Perhaps you are worrying a bit too much? Wisteria sinensis is a vigorous plant (maybe an understatement). Two years ago I winter-sowed 4 species of natives vines - many of which are unfortunately still in pots! But they survived their first winter in the pot ghetto fine and they were younger than your seedling.

Some very hardy plants (i.e. Iris, sedum, etc) I don't even bother to shelter or protect over the winter.

IMHO.. its irrelevant what is IN THE POT ...

the ONLY trick.. is get it dormant.. keep it dormant ...

pots .. not being mother earth.. can fluctuate temps as much as.. and lets exaggerate for effect .... as much as 50 degrees on one winter day ....

a black pot with black soil in winter sun.. can thaw ... and then re-freeze the next night ... if it happens repeatedly.. the plant dies.. most likely root rot ...

do what every you have to do.. to temper the pot temp ... and you will succeed ...

heel it in... pot or not ...

north side of a structure where it gets no sun..

high mulch all around the pot ...

anything ...

after that ... it helps to keep young babes out of blistering winter winds ...

good luck

ken

ps: after winter sun.. and winter wind.. comes vermin control ...

ken, great advice. i'm doin' it.

woody, what a spectacular show! all your vigilance certainly paid off! thanks much for showing us.
mindy

Last thoughts on this issue...

I would not start a wisteria from seed - it would take much, much longer for it to get to blooming size and you would have no guarantee of what you would get when - if - it bloomed. Our Chinese one was labeled 'guaranteed to bloom' - it was clearly a grafted plant (you can see the graft union at the base). I gather that's the sure way to get a blooming plant within a few years - graft mature wood (i.e. wood that has already bloomed) onto seed-grown rootstock. The Japanese one we bought does not have a visible graft union so my guess is that it may be a rooted cutting - or perhaps a several-year-old seedling. 'Lawrence' is supposed to be very vigorous and floriferous so hopefully it gets to blooming size realively quickly without needing to be a grafted plant. We'll see....

I did start some wisteria seeds last spring - but only because I wanted to see whether the seed pods that were set last summer held viable seeds. I wanted to get a feel for the risk of leaving seed pods on the tree. About 30% of the seeds germinated - that was enough to tell me that I need to remove any seedpods to ensure I don't get a crop of unwanted seedlings! I threw out my seedlings - at first I thought maybe I'd try to bonsai a couple, but I was not diligent in their care so I gave up and they ended up in the garbage!

The only way I would grow a wisteria is as a tree - in a location where it is not within reach of anything it could latch on to, and in a location where it is easy to walk around it to prune the growth and see and remove root suckers.

I 'm in zone 3-4 and am for the first time overwintering 2 "Blue Moon" wisterias. They bloom on new growth and are therefore suppost to do O.K. here, and were "designed" for my climate. The pots are well healed in the ground and covered with 2' of straw Here's hoping....
Lois.

Ken,

Just one question. When you say "heel it in", you mean burying the pot in the ground, right? The ground still isn't frozen yet, and I still have them outside, so I can still try this, right??

And, yes, unfortunately, they are in black pots with black soil (absolute worst case scenario!). I will definitely cover them with mulch to prevent the sun from thawing them out too early.

Yes perennialfan273 I healed in my plants in the pots about 3 wks before the ground started to freeze and then I mulched after the ground started to freeze up. This helps to stop the pot/plant from heaving up and down. I think you would have time if you do it now. I have even buried the pot deeper so the soil slightly covers the pot too. Lois

in MY SAND.. which has full and complete drainage... i have no fear of sinking the pot and all into mother earth to allow her to care for them .... in other words.. keep the pots frozen like the soil.. until spring thaw ...

IF YOU HAVE CLAY ... or low drainage ... i suppose you could create as many problems as you may solve by digging a cauldron and sticking a plant in it for winter ...

my experience in the garage or the barn.. was that the pots came out of dormancy 2 months too early .... since the structure was 2 or 3 zones higher than outside ... go figure on that .. with hard frost or freeze thru about 6/1 ... it doesnt help to have tender plants come out of dormancy in late march.. instead of may ....

as i said.. get it dormant.. keep it dormant... that is all you have to figure out ... lol.. yeah right..

ken

It's true that things come out of dormancy a bit early in the garage. That's not a problem if you don't put them outdooors too early! My garage overwintered plants always start showing signs of life in Feb. or Mar. I just give them some water about twice a month and leave them in the garage until it's safe the bring them out. I bring them out in early April but keep them in a sheltered spot where it's easy to throw some floating row cover over them if frost is in the forecast, but where they get rained on and exposed to sun and natural temperature fluctuations. The early start in the garage gets them off to a good start for the year as it gives them a longer growing season. The important thing is that the plants get a a natural cold-triggered dormant period but get necessary protection from winter temperature fluctuations and frost damage to vulnerable new growth in the spring. There are certainly multiple ways to do that - you just have to find the one that work best for you.

I am training my wisteria in a pot. This will be it’s third spring since I bought it . It has done well in the garage both winters. last spring I got a very nice and surprising show of flowers, maybe 5 or so! I am starting to give it some time out doors now that we are getting more moderate temperatures in late March . I am in New York zone 5. I left it out last night by mistake. It hopefully did no harm!

to my information it takes about 7 years plus till a seedling Wisteria is mature enough to flower

"it takes about 7 years plus till a seedling Wisteria is mature enough to flower"

You can safely double or triple that time frame.....15-20 years for a seed grown vine to flower, if it flowers at all. That's why virtually all nursery sold wisteria vines are grafted.

I bought wisteria to grow up a post in my carport, so it's in a pot. I was told I could overwinter it in my back room...it is unheated but will get lots of light. From above comments, this is wrong? Im in southern ontario. Soil outside is lots of clay.. So do I bury it, or can I put it in my dark basement where it does get cool but not cold

A question to add on this discussion. Do you water the plant during the winter when it is in dormancy? Thanks!

I water mine occasionally in the winter. maybe a cup of water every three to four weeks. Seems to work.