Any vine may get out of bounds if you don't trim it. The advantage of an American wisteria vine (such as 'Amethyst Falls') is that it's much less aggressive than chinese wisteria, so much easier to keep in bounds. The disadvantage is that you don't get the wonderful fragrance of the chinese wisteria. But, as in many things in life, you can't have everything.

Got it. I did some research yesterday and saw threads from people asking about it. I learned that it can be trained to become a tree by pruning. If I recall correctly, to do this, you have to trim it once every 2 weeks. So looks like it's a really fast grower.

And also, is it true that if I start it from seed, I will have to wait 5 years before I'll be able to see it flower?

At nurseries, how do they call this tree/vine?

Thanks!

If you start from seed, you could have to wait as many as 12 years to see it flower.

The nurseries who stock it will call it wisteria, but trained to a 'standard' - standard: woody plant having a main trunk, resembling a tree in form

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.

Just a little humor, or did it work? After 7 or 8 years of no flowers on my seed grown Wisteria, jumping up and down in front of it brandishing an ax while reciting a few choice words worked for me. The next year 1 flower, the next year 2 and then it just bloomed it's head off for years until one year a late freeze killed it completely.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever else might be celebrated this time of year.....Have a good one.

Annette

That was awesome gardengal48! Thank you so much for all the information. :)

Happy Holidays!

Just a thought on any Wisteria regardless of heritage. If you have next door neighbors do they like Wisteria? I had a Chinese Wisteria standard for 15 years or so. Keeping the top half pruned to a non life and tree threatening height was work but managed. What wasn't managed were the underground roots that sprouted new growth into my neighbors yard, up his rain spout and, in a really embarrassing turn, into his house. I'd heard about this happening before; roots finding a small split in the foundation and growing through it and up into a house, but didn't think it would happen to me. It did. Those roots grew distances that I hadn't thought possible. Some grew underneath my concrete patio and sprouted in my border clear across the entire yard. I didn't think we'd ever kill that thing completely. It took years to get rid of it. So again, give lots of thought to not just yourself, but to the others around you and their acceptance of a Wisteria (or any plant with invasive roots) in the landscape.

The Asian Wisterias are just plain destructive when set loose into natural habitats.

My cousin has a lovely "controlled" American version in her yard along a fence. It's certainly not the Asian variety so be careful what you purchase.

This part of NJ has lost most of its understory natives due to crisscrossing roots from these things that go for miles and the vines eventually pull down every tree in their path. After the trees are down the darn vines continue to grow horizontally and then up the tree next to them. You can hack away at roots and vines til the cows come home and never rid yourself of them.

Sorry for the rant...I've been hacking away at them for 5 years to no avail. It's one of the few things deer don't decimate, wouldn't ya know!